


The (M)ass Effect on Alpha Biotics

by GravityDidIt



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, F/M, M/M, Mass Effect AU, Spaceships, WIP
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-24
Updated: 2014-04-25
Packaged: 2017-12-21 06:01:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/896674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GravityDidIt/pseuds/GravityDidIt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Follows Plot of Mass Effect 2</p><p>Commander Derek Hale after his ship is attacked and he is spaced, died. His body was recovered and rebuilt in order for him to fight the agents of enemy the galaxy once thought defeated. </p><p>The Collectors, pawns of the Reapers, are abducting human colonies and Commander Hale is the best bet for defeating he enemy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wake Up

**Author's Note:**

> During School my little brother let me play his Mass Effect games and I became obsessed.  
> At that time I was still writing Aconite so late at night when I was playing video games and then tried to write things melded together leading into this.  
> For those of you who have never played Mass Effect who may be reading this (GO PLAY IT) all you need to know will be made clear in the story itself so hold on.  
> For those of you who have played Mass Effect who are also Teen Wolf fans know that I cut out morphing the Teen Wolf characters into their Alien counterparts. They are all human. I did this for 1.5 reasons. I didn’t want to alienate (get it Alien?) anyone who has never played Mass Effect by making characters that they recognize into Alien species and that morphing them into their counterparts was harder than expected. Many of the physical aspects that people recognize would get lost in this so I decided I needed to morph things a bit.  
> Also I have included links to some of the armors, enemies, weapons, and outfits in Mass Effect 2 & 3, that way if my descriptions don’t do it for you there will be a picture.
> 
> This is actually a trial run so I may decide to morph it where they are their Alien selves in a different Story.  
> Also Sterek! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, you can contact me on Tumblr.  
> Let’s get this show on the road....er....story.....you know what I mean.

He can hear...something. It’s foggy and sounds far away but he can hear it. Quickly the sound comes closer and though muffled he can make out words.

“Something’s wrong,” A man’s voice speaks out, he sounds frantic and worried. “His heart rate is getting too high.” Derek tries to open his eyes, a man, no, a boy is leaning over him looking at his face. The boy’s face is young, pale, and marked with a few moles across his cheeks. “He’s opening his eyes!” He knows that the boy must have yelled it but the sound goes muffled, loud and muffled once again making him wince. The boy looks at him, his brown eyes are filled with worry, and then the he flashes a light into Derek’s eyes. Derek may hate him now. “Lyd- Dr. Martin, he’s reacting to outside stimulus!” The boy turns his head and looks at something, presumably Dr. Martin

            “His brain activity is much too high.” A woman yells, calmer than the boy but she appears next to him, looking Derek over. He notices and tries to move only to have the woman force him down, she’s stronger than she looks. She looks up at the boy and with a glare they switch. The boy holds Derek’s shoulders down. While the woman moves somewhere he can’t see. “I’m readying a sedative.” Derek struggles, his body feels like it fell asleep his skin is alive with pins and needles. The boy moves off of Derek but without his weight holding him in check Derek thrashes against the table. “Activate a catalyst we need the sedative to work faster.”

            “Lydia?!” The boy looks away from Derek’s face and back to Lydia. “But we’re so close.”

            “Stiles, if we don’t calm his heart rate,” She leaves off the rest and the boy, Stiles, nods gravely. He hears a muffled clasp and quickly his mind becomes muffled once more. His vision blurs but not before he has one last glance at the man in front of him. He slips back into darkness

/\/\/\

            “Wake up!” Derek tries to block out whatever it is that’s decided to wake him up. “Wake up!” Whatever it is, it is insistent. “Oh my God, Commander Hale, wake up,” Derek is truly considering getting up and giving whoever that is a piece of his mind, and a Biotic throw into a wall. “This facility is under attack.” Okay, now whoever it is has his attention. “Commander Hale you need to get up, NOW!” Derek opens his eyes just as he hears an explosion echo down into the room. He sits up ignoring the way his muscles want to protest from, disuse? Why would his muscles be so…Then the memory hits him. He was aboard his ship, the Beacon, when they were attacked and he was spaced. His crew! He needed to- “Commander Hale! My name is Stiles and I need you to get up, this facility is under attack and security has been hacked by people who want you dead.” Normally Derek would just laugh he’s had mercenaries, slavers, commandos, geth, the most dangerous criminal in the Galaxy, Saren, a rogue **spectre** , after him and he’s survived it all but with the memory of himself being spaced and having no idea where he is, he’ll take Stiles, whatever the hell _that_ is, advice. For now. “Finally” Derek rolls his eyes when he’s righted himself on his feet looking around he noticed the medical supplies.

            “Am I in a med bay?”

            “Yes you are and I’ll explain more later, but right now we need to get you ready.” Stiles speaks over an intercom. “There’s armor and a pistol in the locker in the corner.” Derek hurries ignoring the fact that he’s dressed only in a towel. Derek drops the towel to put on the armor and hears a small gasp over the intercom. He takes notice of the camera in the upper corner and raises an eyebrow. It would seem Stiles is quiet for now. After he has the black under layer for the armor on he notices a stiffness to his jaw and the rest of his face. “Your scars aren’t healed yet but we don’t have time to wait around.” And Stiles commentary is back. _Great._ Derek takes a look at the [armor](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Cerberus_Ajax_Armor), the plates are white with black and yellow accents. The shoulder plates have a yellow and black insignia that looks somewhat familiar, the same insignia is on the right breast of the chest plate. Several holsters for thermal clips are on the belt and a few pockets for power cells are on the side of each thigh. Once he has all the armor on he noticed that it’s actually quite light but durable. All in all it told Derek wherever he was they had expensive (admittedly high quality) tastes. Meaning they were well-funded. He gets a closer look at the pistol. The white pistol has a curved guard and has a balanced weight, Derek reads the “M-5” on the side. [The M-5 Phalanx?](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/M-5_Phalanx) Definitely well-funded. He takes that back quickly, how the hell are they able to fund armor and guns and not a thermal clip. In this day and age ammunition is practically endless but without a thermal clip to vent a weapons heat it’s pretty much useless.

            “This pistol doesn’t have a thermal clip.” He’s said that rudely, if the way Stiles speaks next is any way to tell.

            “It’s a med bay!” Stiles points out the obvious.

            “Then why the hell would there be armor and a pistol in the first place?” He yells back. The intercom goes quiet for a while.

            “Get down they’re setting up an explo-” Stiles is cut off by the explosion he was trying to warn Derek about. Derek moves faster than he expected. He’s behind a desk in the blink of an eye. Overhead, the instruments from the top of the table fly backward smashing against the back wall, the telltale clash and shatter of glass can be heard behind him. Derek peers from the side of his cover and waits for the cloud of dust and smoke to dissipate. He concentrates his sight low, so he can see his adversaries’ feet but instead he is greeted with head of a [LOKI-Mech](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/LOKI_Mech) with a cracked face plate. He’s scanning his eyes across the floor, he can see the white metal that created the Mech’s arms, legs and torso along with exploded wires and circuit boards. He moves his way through the cloud quickly and silently, using the cloud for his own cover. Beyond the cloud is a hallway.

            “To your right.” Stiles supplies over the intercom. Derek turns and notes the dead bodies littering the floor. So many of them look almost civilian, the [science uniforms](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/File:Default_Casual_Scientist.png) tell him their profession and the white and black color scheme labels them as scientists for whatever this organization is. Their blood decorates the walls with a fresh coat of red. _Red,_ Derek notes, they were human. He ignores them for now. He can’t help the dead. He _can_ avenge them however. “Once more to your right. And Take cover, Mech’s heading your way.” Derek runs forward and takes cover behind the glass railing, he looks up and sees a ‘skylight’ showing the inky blackness of space and a blue planet with white clouds (much like earth, but not earth) in its atmosphere.  He then looks through the glass downward and takes note that he’s definitely several stories up. The heavy doors in front of him makes a ‘ _Woosh_ ’ and a clang as they open and lock in place. Derek watches as three Mechs walk forward jaggedly in a farce of a real squad. Derek can’t help but smirk. Derek pops out from cover and takes aim. The mechs are quick to react but the first few shots are diverted by Derek’s shields. Derek shoots the mech in the middle, the head explodes on contact with his shot. He retracts into cover as the middle mech falls over and explodes from its missing head. The other two are thrown off balance, their computer screen faces glitch with static as they recompute, and Derek takes his chance. Derek readies himself crouching, he feels the energy in his body ignite, charging. Literally. The blue biotic energy flares over Derek’s body and armor. The mass effect field is ready, Derek pushes off with his foot and he travels in the blink of an eye toward his target, a blue trail of light follows after him. Derek hits the mechs, his biotic energy bursting, recharging his shields and pushing the mechs farther away. Derek raises his pistol and ends the threat in front of him.

            “Holy crap that was cool.” Stiles whispers in awe. Derek probably wasn’t supposed to hear that. “O-okay, uh, keep going straight and t- to –r-si-li--”

            “Stiles?” Derek questions but there is no reply. Derek takes Stiles direction and goes down the corridor, the rest of the hall is blocked by debris but automatic doors open allowing Derek through. Beyond the door lay to more mechs. Derek pulls back his arm as if readying for a punch. Blue flame like light, cover his body but focuses on his arm and fist following through Derek punches toward the mechs. The blue light travels forward into a shockwave of energy. It travels a bit farther in front of Derek, the shockwave explodes, creating another shockwave that cascades toward his targets, it explodes and creates another. It meets the two mechs and throws them sideways slamming them into the walls. The lights of the mechs’ faces flicker off. He contuse toward the only way he can. After Derek travels for a bit he hits another doorway. He has his pistol at the ready as he enters, but there isn’t anyone within, he tries to move toward the new hallway ( _another f*ckin’ hallway)_. There’s a large window showing a hallway alight with flames on the other side, a man walks out from the corner and notices Derek.

            “Commander Hale!” The man waves, happy, relieved to see Derek. The man turns around abruptly but Derek doesn’t have to wonder why for too long. He can feel the vibrations in his feet as an YMIR-Mech stomps forward. The Heavy Mech towers over the man in the other room, its bone white Armor reflects the fires that are within other room.

            “Run!” Derek yells hoping the man will hear him, but the man is frozen in Terror. Derek looks for a doorway into the room, he runs toward a door but it only leads to an office. He runs back to the man and shoot at the glass but the glass is too thick. Fortunately, although Derek will never see it as such, the Mech fires a rocket from its left arm it hits the man. Nothing is left of him but a large cracked crater in the glass. Derek squeezes the handle to his pistol. He closes his eyes tight and clenches his jaw.

            He returns to the office and looks around hoping for something to tell him what’s going on, where he is, or hopefully how to get out. A computer sits in the corner with a recording. Derek walks toward it and presses play.

            “ _Two years and Four Billion credits later we finally have real progress_.” Derek recognizes the voice of the woman that was there when he woke up, Dr. Martin. “ _The subject has been showed physical promise. The Skeleton, skin and major organs have been rebuilt and can function on their own but, we need to wait for the psychological tests before I can declare this a success.”_ Dr. Martin sighs as if bored or if regretting the next things she’s about to say. “ _I have confirmation from my assistant, Mr. Stilinski, that Biotically the subject should perform better than before. He’s developed a new Bio-amp, he calls it the Alpha amp. It’s based off of the L2 chips immense power multiplier, however without the drawback of insanity, crippling pain, seizures or death. How he exactly he achieved it I don’t know, his explanation delved into myths he used to inspire himself but it’s been field tested and approved, (though I will never admit it to his face). Stiles did well. He exceeded my own and the Illusive man’s expectations.”_ The log ends. Derek can’t help but picture Stiles in one of the scientist uniforms and dead somewhere like the others. The image motivates Derek to hurry, he will not lose another man.

            He moves quickly and comes upon a door, on the other side Derek can here gunshots being fired. Though it sounds like none of the gunfire is coming at the door, Derek takes cover on the side of the wall and opens the door. He peers over looking at where the gunshots are coming from, he sees a man taking cover behind another glass railing. Derek runs over to the man, who upon a closer look is more of a boy. He’s dressed in light armor, though the extra padding on the arms, shoulders, and knees suggest he knows combat. The dark black and grey help Derek to assume that he’s a member of the organization, but Derek keeps his pistol ready just in case. Derek runs over to the railing and takes cover next to the boy. The boy looks at Derek and his eyes widen in surprise.

            “Commander Hale?” The boy questions. So the kid, like everyone else here seems to know who he is. “What are you doing here?” Derek ignores his question for one of his own.

            “Are you with Stiles?” Scott looks at Derek, his eyes seem a bit calmer at the mention of Stiles. He nods. “I need answers.” Derek orders. The kid looks from Derek and back to the mechs approaching.

            “Quick version,” He begins. “I’m Scott McCall by the way. Your ship was attacked and you were officially declared dead. And you were, like, really dead. I saw you when you first got here, you were basically cooked meat. And tubes. That was two years ago.”

            “Is this an Alliance facility?” Derek tries not to dwell on his ‘dead’ status, at the moment he’s alive and would rather not ‘live’ up to his current reputation. The “two years” he missed however...

            “No,” Derek is about to ask another question when Scott speaks up. “I’ll explain more but can we get rid of these guys first.”

            “Fine.” Derek sighs.

            “I’m running low on thermal clips but I’m a Biotic so just tell me when you want me to hit em’.” Derek nods and they pop up from cover both going in opposite directions to draw fire.

            “Scott, show me what you can do!” Derek orders.

            “Yes sir.” Scott shouts back. Scott runs toward Derek, avoiding a few shots, Scott’s body covers in blue flame-like light, with a sweeping motion Scott extends his arm toward the mechs, a blue light flies from Scott’s hand breaks into several lights, they travel quickly and hit each of the mechs. The lights cover each of the mechs and with a pullback of Scott’s arm the mechs are lifted into the air, the blue aura look like it gets sucked toward Scott, forcing the mechs to gently float toward him. Scott looks to Derek and Derek signals for Scott to open fire. They take careful aim so as not to waste thermal clips. The mechs are destroyed but Derek spies a door across the room. Scott takes note of where Derek is staring. “That’s where they’re coming in.” He reports. Derek looks over to see a balcony with cracks in it support beams. The biotic blue aura ignites across his arm as he makes a throwing gesture toward the beam, a bullet shaped orb of light flies from his open palm and to the beam, a thread of blue light connects it to Derek’s palm. When the light connects with the beam Derek feels it, he whips his arm and the blue thread connecting the orb and his hand shines bright blue, the wave of energy follow like a whip. With a loud crack the beam begins to collapse from the weight above, the balcony falls in front of the door barring any entry. “Now that’s that’s taken care of,” Scott says while putting his pistol in a holster on his side. “What do you wanna know?”

            “Were there any survivors from the Beacon?”

            “Navigator died. But everyone else including your non Alliance crew members survived.” That was a relief, he doesn’t really feel too much anger at the mention of Harris’ death; the man was an ass.

            “Do you know where they are now?” Though he’ll never admit it, Derek would really like to see a familiar face. Though Scott is looking at him with an earnest puppy dog look at the moment...it’s not really helping. Scott’s face does turn to a puppy like frown at Derek’s question.

            “Sorry Commander, it’s been two years they could be anywhere.

            “They were my team, if they knew I was alive...” Derek isn’t able to finish it though. Because he’s not sure if they would come back. He’s not exactly the friendliest person there is. His sister had described him as “ _surly_ ” on more than one occasion. And despite the trust that they shared he just couldn’t be sure.

            “Maybe you can track them down when we get off the station.” And Scott was back to looking like an eager puppy.

            “Two years, doing what exactly?” Derek asks. It effectively remove the puppy look from Scott.

            “Bringing you back. The Lazarus Project’s only goal was to bring you back” Scott grimaces as if remembering something. “When you came in...Anywhere else and they would have just buried you but here. We had the top scientists with the most cutting edge technology all for bringing you back.”

            “What exactly did they do? Cloning, cybernetics?” Derek asks.

            “I don’t think you a clone.” Scott answers, although it sounds more like a question. “You’d have to ask one of the scientists. But you’re still you. The whole point was to bring you back exactly as you were before. No alterations to your personality, morals, or memories. We wanted pure unadulterated first human Spectre, Hero of the Skyllian Blitz, Commander Derek Hale.” Derek looks at Scott strangely. That last bit warranted it. “You might have a few different pieces here and there.”

            “Do have any idea who attacked this facility?”

            “I am not sure?” Scott admits scratching the back of his head. “But for all the mechs to be hacked, I’m guessing it was an inside job. They would have to have pretty high security clearance.”

            “When I woke up someone named Stiles was talking to me over the intercom. We lost contact a few minutes ago.”

            “Stiles?” Scott smiles at the mention of Stiles. “He’s the second in command here, under Lydia Martin, though she refers to him as her assistant. They were the one’s who brought you back. The heads of the Lazarus Project. I wouldn’t worry too much about Stiles he can take care of himself surprisingly well.” Derek must have looked confused at that cause Scott says next. “You’ll understand when you meet him.”

            “We need to get out of here.” Derek’s back to business now that some of his question have been answered.

            “We need to head to the Shuttle bay.” Scott announces. “We can get their through the service tunnels, through here.” Scott points to a door and leads the way.

/\/\/\/\

            Despite a few mechs Derek and Scott had an easy walk to the shuttle bay. It isn’t until they near an intersection to the shuttle bay that they hear someone.

            “Work you stupid thing!” Derek signals to Scott, who readies his pistol. Scott takes cover on the corner and Derek silently moves across the hallway to the other corner. “Come on!” The man sighs in frustration. “I don’t want to hack into you but I will.” Derek peers around the corner and is met with...He is not sure. The man, is in [a skin tight suit](http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/3/31293/1164772-miranda.jpg), framing his body’s shape and ass(ets), he has knee high black boots, and his arms are covered in black (gloves?) that cover him hand to shoulder as well, except for the fingers which are covered in white that accentuate his long fingers...and Derek is staring...He may be staring for an inappropriate amount of time, because Scott makes a cough to get his attention. However it also catches the man’s attention. The man has a pistol drawn as soon as he turns but Derek moves quicker and has the man pressed against the wall with his wrist in Derek’s hand and held above the man’s head.

            “Stiles?” Derek questions. He knows that face it was there the first time he started to regain consciousness. But apparently his memory did not paint Stiles in the best light, Stiles stares at Derek just as surprised to see him, he licks his lips drawing Derek eyes at his full pink lips...Derek fights to drag his eyes away. Only for them to slip lower and study Stiles more. Apparently Stiles is wearing a uniform because there the same insignia sits over his heart and right next to it. Derek’s eyes are drawn to a rectangular opening on Stiles’ suit, it dips low, just below his clavicle and wide enough to expose the notches of it, framing the hollow of his throat perfectly. A black choker connected to the collar of the suit contrasts with his pale skin and brings attention his very (very bite-able) neck.

            “H-hey, Commander Hale.” Stiles speaks forcing Derek’s eyes to his face. “I’ve been looking for you.” Derek pulls himself away from Stiles who just barely notices Scott. “Scott! Dude, I’m so glad you’re alive.”

            “Stiles, where have you been?” Scott asks walking forward and slapping a hand on Stiles shoulder.

            “Fighting my own private army of mechs.” Stiles walks over to the console he was typing on and presses a button, a door from the intersection of tunnels opens and Derek can see the littered shrapnel of the destroyed mechs. In the middle of them a man lays on the floor with a single bullet hole in his head. Stiles notices Derek looking. “That was Wilson. He was our traitor.”

            “Shouldn’t we have brought him in for questioning?” Scott asks, Stiles just shrugs. “Commander Hale.” Scott begins and he has a guilty look on his face. “I think it’s time we told you who we work for.” Stiles gives Scott a ‘keep quiet/are you crazy’ look that is ignored. “We work for Cerberus.”

            “You work for Cerberus.” Derek’s vision goes red. He clenches his fist until he can feel his bones protesting from the pressure. “The pro-human terrorist group?” He asks not looking for an answer. “The same group that let a Thresher Maw, attack my colony, my home, my family, in the name of science and human advancement.” Unknown to Derek his eyes have gone red. He looks at Scott who seems scared but Stiles is looking at him like a test subject. **That** makes his blood boil, or more accurately it his body starts charging Biotic energy bathing him in a blue aura. Before he ‘died’ Derek had been sent on missions to destroy Cerberus facilities the experiments they committed were foul and unjustified on any level of thinking.

            “Commander Hale,” Stiles tries. Derek isn’t going to attack them. No, not yet. He has more control then he’s letting on. “Derek.” Stiles says, and though Derek is in control, something about hearing his name, his first name, stops him from seeing red. But he doesn’t see Stiles in the same light, the last Cerberus agent he had _looked_ at was Kate Argent, and that ended with her leaving his colony defenseless against the Thresher Maw. It had been their experiment. Derek’s Colony was the only known all human Biotic Colony in the Terminus System. It was established so Biotics could escape the hate directed toward them. Some people thought Biotics were dangerous, and for the most part they were right but rumors of Biotics controlling and reading the minds of other were nothing more than propaganda. But the attack was his fault, he had taught Kate how to sneak into the colony so they could see each other, but little did he know he was only teaching her how to get past the colony’s defenses. Kate disabled their guns, turrets and communications so they couldn’t call for help. The colony had to rely on their Biotics. From survivor’s accounts Derek’s family, the Hale family fought off the Thresher Maw on their own so others could escape. They had succeeded at the cost of their lives. He and Laura had gone to a mining facility to retrieve a few tools that needed repair, when they returned....the maw was gone. And so was their family. “Derek.” Stiles tries again, Derek lets his display of power die down. “I’m sorry and yes we do work for Cerberus, but I think once you talk to our boss you’ll get a better understanding of what we are about.” Derek snorts at that.

/\/\/\

            The shuttle ride to the other facility is tense to say the least. For more reasons than one. The main reason is that his shuttle mates work for Cerberus and he can’t trust them not just because of his own history with Cerberus but also because the Alliance ingrained into him that anything dealing with Cerberus should always raise red flags. The second reason was because Stiles began asking him question about his past. Stiles claimed it was only to make sure that psychologically the project was a success. So Derek had to answer questions about his past mission and his own past, something he was normally tight lipped about. Though certain questions were certainly easier to answer. Such as the person he recommended as the human Councilor for the Citadel. His sister. Though the ambassador certainly accused him of nepotism, he remained steadfast in his recommendation, Laura was exactly what humanity needed, a protective, sometimes evil, big sister that would always fight for what was best and right. Shit, Laura was probably really pissed when he died, heartbroken as well, but first off pissed. The third reason the ride was tense was Stiles. He was just sitting there. In his skin-tight uniform. The way it hugged his body, showing off his lithe musculature and broad shoulders. And the black belt that he had slung over his hip, the way it dragged Derek’s eyes downward. However it seemed like the only thing that Stiles ‘uniform’ didn’t show off to the world was the crotch...it was a little unfair.

            “Just go to the door.” Stiles advises once they arrive. He points to a door on the other side of the lobby. “I think once you talk with him, a lot more will be made clear.” Derek walks to the door and takes a flight of stairs down to a room. The room is dark but with the scant light coming from the stairwell he can’t make out any features, it’s just an empty room. Derek is about to turn back when the floor begins to produce a low humming. Looking around him a laser grid begins to raise from the floor and connect with the ceiling. He looks around but a hologram is produced in front of him getting his attention. Derek can spot the silhouette of a man sitting in a chair, a large red and yellow star sits in the background, so the man’s front is in shadow.

            “Who’s there?” Derek questions. The man stands from the chair and walks slowly closer, or more accurately he hologram walks closer. Each step more of the man is revealed he’s dressed in a very fine suit, but just as his face is almost revealed he stops.

            “I know it’s been a long time Derek but the fact that you can’t recognize me, it hurts.” He takes one last step forward and Derek sees his face. Peter. His uncle Peter that a little more than three years ago was in a coma, escaped and presumed dead. “Well I guess it’s good to see you. Also, a ‘thank you’ for bringing you back from the dead would be polite.” Peter smiles in a his ‘I know more than I let on’ smirk, a look that Derek hated growing up, and when visiting his uncle in the hospital, something he would give anything to see again. And now that it’s back he just isn’t sure what to think of it. Especially since it no longer meets his eyes liek it once did, although that may be because Peter’s eyes have been replaced with synthetics, the irises are unnaturally blue and hexagon shaped. “I assume you have questions.” Peter returns to his seat, but the lighting stays on him.

            “What happened?” Derek is at a loss for words. The fact that he was able to ask his question at all is astounding to him.

            “I’ just guessing but I think you want to know what happened from the time I escaped that hospital and how I arrived to where I am.” Peter smiles in a bit more friendly manner but somehow the mannerism seems more predatory. “For starters, I will need to admit that I could hear while in my comatose state. And Laura was very forthcoming during certain visits. Well after I escaped I wondered around the Citadel for a while, lovely place by the way, the aliens aboard were cloaca’s however. I got off the Citadel and decided I would make the ones who killed our entire family pay. Lucky for me, the Alliance sent a Commander, who also happened to become the first human Spectre to investigate and put a stop to some Cerberus experiments. While you destroyed a few bases Cerberus was weakened enough I was able to find the head of Cerberus, and the agent who lead the destruction of our colony, Kate Argent.” Peter speaks her name with a growl, the only slip in his monologue, the rest was spoken as if retelling an annual vacation trip. “Anyway, I killed them all and decided, “Why let all these resources go to waste, for all the harm Cerberus has caused they were right about the Human race needing an edge in the galaxy. So I took my place as the new Illusive Man.” Derek isn’t sure where to begin with any of this so he settles for one question at the moment.

            “Does Laura know?” Peter’s eyes seem to flicker as if concentrating or noticing something but Derek isn’t sure what to make of it. He’s not sure if this is even the same man who he grew up with.

            “No, we can’t very well let the galaxy know that the first Human Councilor is related to the leader of an organization that has many times been described as terrorists. The same reason why I never contacted you.”

            “So why bring me back?” The comment that it wasn’t because they were family wasn’t spoken but understood between the two.

            “Simply put, Derek” Peter sighs and then smiles, glad to return to business. “Humanity needs a hero, a savior and that is you.” Derek wants to protest but he’s not stupid. He knows that many humans look up to him. Perhaps it was the colony on Feros he saved or maybe the men he saved while killing hundreds of [Batarians](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Batarians), either way people looked up to him now, no matter how ill-placed their faith was. He never set out to be a hero, despite his choice to join the Alliance to save lives. Ironic, no? He doesn’t want to work for Cerberus, but maybe with it being Peter it will be easier to stomach. But Peter continues. “Derek your track record is amazing in itself. You try so hard to act renegade when really you’re just so Paragon.” Now, he’s just confused.

            “Peter, I need to know what Humanity needs help from.” Derek ignores Peter’s grin.

            “That’s the thing, we don’t know.” Peter sighs as if bored and put out. “Thousands of human lives, countless colonies have gone dark. When teams arrive at the colony, nothing it left behind. We suspect a group of Aliens known as collectors. Normally, Collectors trade with slavers or capture the odd spaceship off course, but now their attacking and abducting entire colonies in the Terminus System.

            “So why is Cerberus involved and not the Alliance?” Derek asks, usually something like this wouldn’t be overlooked.

            “To much political red tape.” Peter rolls his eyes. “Will you help?”

            “I’m still not convinced.” Derek admits. The Alliance may get slow during political agendas but it doesn’t abandon its people.

            “Their technology is something only seen in reapers.” Derek freezes. The one true enemy in his fight against Saren. The reaper, or Sovereign, was a sentient machine built eons ago, was the true orchestrator of Saren’s betrayal and the would-be invasion and extinction of Life in the galaxy.

            “You have my attention.” Derek grits out. “I will look into this. But if I don’t find anything I’m out.” Peter nods solemnly, even without saying anything Peter puts Derek on edge.

            “Take Stiles and Scott with you.”

"Fine," Derek sighs dramatically. "I'll take them with me." The room goes dark, the electric blue laser grid shows once again and dissipates. The first site Derek sees as he enters the room is Stiles slightly bending over a desk typing at a keyboard. Derek's eyes travel south but he forces them forward when Stiles turns around.

            "Have a nice chat?" Stiles asks.

            "Fine." Derek remarks purposefully brusk.

            "Oh come one, no comments on the family reunion?" Derek has Stiles up against the nearest wall the thud that Stiles skull makes against the wall is hard but Derek pays it no mind.

            "You knew?" It's not that Derek feels betrayed. You actually have to trust someone in order for them to betray you. But the fact that it was kept from him makes him see red. And Stiles is back to looking at him like he's a test subject.

            "Is this going to be a pattern with you?" Stiles tries to wriggle free but Derek pushes him against the wall harder. "In another context this might actually be fun." Stiles comments....and Derek brain short circuits for a second. "Interesting," Stiles is looking over Derek's face. "It would seem that the cybernetic transplants you were given interact with your moods. Whenever you get mad your eyes actually turn red." Stiles keeps studying Derek's face but a flash of something else crosses his face.

            "Uh, you guys ready to go?" Scott's question shocks the two out of the trance they seemed to have slipped in. Derek pushes himself away from Stiles.

            "Can I trust you at my back?" Derek asks the two.

            "Absolutely Commander" Scott answers with a salute.

"I helped rebuild you when you looked like overcooked spaghetti," Stiles chokes out a chuckle and smirk. "Like I'm going to let two years of nonstop work go to waste." It might not be perfect but...it'll do.


	2. Some new and Some old

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They explore the Colony and Derek makes his decision. 
> 
> This chapter Derek becomes a bit more inquisitive. We meet a couple of his older crewmates, a couple of his new crewmates and a few backstories are revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Regarding comments, Garrus is my bro so I hope who I chose will do him justice. But you will have to wait till chapter 4 to find out.  
> And with Stiles “crossdressing”, Originally Stiles was going to take place of Tali, I thought it worked well with the Quarian suit designs paralleling with Stiles’ plaid and both love and are loyal to their fathers, dead mother and use Bosh’tet and Bitch. However I am a Sterek shipper at heart and forcing Derek to deal with Stiles in Miranda’s costume was just too tempting. And I don’t think of him as crossdressing I think of it as like how superheroes dress in spandex. That and I wanted Stiles to be a Biotic so I could write fighting scenes with him using awesome powers. With costumes on the mind though, some characters will have apparel that is from a character they were not paralleled with and some will be from Mass Effect 3. Same with powers

Freedom's Progress was a typical human settlement, with little defenses beyond a small military force, supplemented by mechs and security drones. It reminded Derek of his colony. The buildings were residential but modified to handle occupational needs. Much like his was.

"It's like a ghost town." Scott comments after walking through a few buildings. They were empty. In one house a monitor still played a vid. 'Fleet and Flotilla' Stiles had noted. 'I love that vid.'

"Scans show no signs of human life." Stiles speaks up after a minute of tinkering with his omni-tool, the orange frame covering his right arm. Derek surveys the area one last time and breathes in deep. Sniffing the air was actually not a recommended way of acquiring data, since many planets had atmospheres that were either non-existent or were harmful to humans. He smells nothing. That sets off alarms in his head. Most colonies have a scent that associates with them, mining colonies tend to smell like earth and metal, oil. Settlements meant for scientific exploration tend to either smell like the natural area around them or synthetic and slightly clean. But Derek could smell nothing. "So you do actually do the smelling thing." Stiles notes. Derek turns and gives him a scowl.

"There aren't any signs of conflict." Scott and Stiles share a look beside Derek.

"Just like the others." Scott remarks gravely.

"So you ready to join us yet?" Stiles asks. Derek rolls his eyes and gets ready to give Stiles a comment of his own but when he turns instead of seeing Stiles face he's met with Stiles bending over a crate. Derek's eyes are immediately drawn toward....He wrenches his eyes away. Stiles straightens himself up and shows off the power-cells he discovered within the crate. He tosses them to Derek who catches them deftly. "These might come in-"

"Shhh-" Derek cuts him off. "Do you hear that?" He whispers.

"Hear wha-"

"Shhh" Derek cuts him off again. Derek notices the way that Stiles tenses his jaw and the annoyed look on his face. A loud 'clang' sounds and echoes slightly from beyond a door. Derek also notices how Stiles body ~~tightens~~ (no) tenses with anticipation. Derek motions with his hand for Scott and him to take cover behind a crate. With a jerk of his chin he signals Stiles to Stand to the side of the door. Once he and Scott are in place Stiles begins hacking the electric lock on the door.  Stiles [omni-tool](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Omni-tools) blinks on and as it's pressed to the lock makes an electrical discharge. Stiles ignores the discharge and locks eyes with Derek. Derek's eyes however dip low as they watch Stiles mouth; "three, two, one" Derek's full attention is on the entrance as the door slides open with a whoosh. [FENRIS mechs](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/FENRIS_Mech) look toward the door as it opens and head toward the opening. Much like dogs the trot over toward the open door, Derek looks toward Stiles who is still hidden, but when their eyes lock a thought passes between the two and Derek nods. Stiles quickly moves from cover and stands in the doorway the mechs red lit face plates shine a bit brighter as the run toward him. A blue aura covers Stiles arm and he makes a lifting gesture with his palm the two mechs are raised into the air covered by a blue aura, he clenches his hand into a fist and brings it down quickly forcing the FENRIS mechs to slam into the ground. The mechs are merely stunned so Derek and Scott pop from cover and shoot them until one explodes taking out the other. Stiles winks at Derek as they continue on their way.

“So it looks like the security was activated.” Scott remarks.

“Which means we aren’t alone.” Derek nods, agreeing. He readies his pistol and leads them through another building. As they near another exit to the exterior a sound catches Derek’s attention. He looks out a window before opening the doors and sees what looks like a gun mounted on a tripod flying overhead, and then two more fly by. “Look alive we’ve got armed [rocket drones](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Rocket_Drone).” Stiles just smiles. They open the doors and are met with the drones perched on a ledge, their guns targeted at the three. Derek and Stiles take cover on the right side of the doorway and Scott takes cover on the left. The drones begin shooting through the doorway and Stiles jumps back into Derek, nearly plastering his back to Derek’s chest along the small wall. The shooting stops momentarily, Derek assumes to reload. Stiles pushes himself away from Derek and into the opening. Raising his Omni-tool he takes aim on one the middle drone. With few presses on his omni-tool Stiles hacks into the drone and overloads it, forcing it to explode. The other two recalibrate and take aim at Stiles leaving Derek and Scott with an opening. Scott thrusts an open palm toward one of the drones using his biotics to throw the drone against the wall behind it. Derek sends a biotic light that latches onto the last drone with a whip motion of his arm, a biotic rope lights and whips the drone into the ground.

“We should probably figure out who’s activating these drones.” Derek and Stiles both roll their eyes.

“I guess we should head toward the security

“Wait a second.” Stiles says while pressing his omni-tool. “There’s a transmission.”

“ _Veetor, It’s me Danny you need to shut off the mechs were trying to reach you.”_

“Danny?” Scott asks. “You don’t think…” Scott and Stiles look to each other.

“Veetor is a quarian name. It could be him.” Derek just glares at them until Scott notices,

“Danny is a friend of ours. He’s been working with Quarians for the past few years. He wanted to work with the best engineers in the galaxy. They actually like him so much they even made him an enviro-suit. Which you know, is a big deal with quarians since they have such weak immune systems and the suits have become a part of their culture.”

“Did you read that book Danny sent you?” Stiles asks. Scott smiles at being caught. “Yup. We should try reaching Danny right?” Stiles nods and begins trying to contact Danny.

/\

“Are you sure? Okay….yeah. Alright….wait! Are you serious?! Fine but if we do this you have to answer my question Danny.” Derek feels his eyebrows as the meet in the middle, he looks to Scott.

“He asked if gay guys found him attractive.” Scott whispers. Derek looks back to Stiles and his eyes sink low.

“Okay!” Derek’s neck snaps up to Stiles face. “Danny admitted that he arrived with a few quarians when they received a distress call from Veetor, he was here for his pilgrimage when something attacked the colonists. Also in order to get to him we have to go through this warehouse.” Stiles gestures to a large building a small ways away. “Which has a [YMIR Mech](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/YMIR_Mech) we have to go through.” Derek feels like groaning but decides against it.

“Let get this over with.”

The warehouse was spacious and filled with crates. Unfortunately, the crates were fragile making cover an almost dangerous prospect. And the mech noticed them as soon as they entered the warehouse. The machine gun on the Mech aimed at the squad and began to fire. They scattered but not before their shields depleted a considerable amount. He and Scott hide behind a reinforced column while Stiles is behind a few crates.

“We need to take out its shield when it goes to reload. And this needs to be done fast, those crates won’t last as cover long.” Derek reports. Stiles locks eyes with Derek and mouths something that Derek can’t make out. The sound of the machine gun stops and Stiles moves out from cover before Derek can figure out what he said. A blue orb so bright it was almost white floats just over Stiles hand he look at the mech and throws the orb. It travels straight and fast and as it connects it explodes in a large detonation of blue-white flame like light that covers the mech.

“It-it shields are down.” Stiles pants, and _now_ Derek can hear him. Stiles is hidden behind the crates again but he’s panting hard and the Mech has turned itself keeping its attention on Stiles. The Mech prepares the gun and begins shooting again.

“Crap!” Derek yells. He gets up and concentrates a dark blue orb of light he sends it flying toward the Mech a dark blue trail of energy ripples behind it. When the warp connects it begins weakening the mechs Armor. “Scott, get to Stiles now!” Scott runs toward Stiles and just as the mech stops shooting it readies a rocket. Scott’s body glows blue as the biotic aura surrounds him, he outstretches his arm and barrier stretches in front of him just as the rocket is launched. Derek uses the machine’s distraction to his advantage. The bioitic aura covers his body as he readies himself, he releases the energy and charges forward at the mech. Luckily, his warp is still in effect and the charge detonates it, creating a large explosion. With his shield recharged and the mech unbalanced Derek jumps into the air he concentrates his bioitic energy and when he lands he sends it outward into a nova of energy. The blast sends the mech farther back and damages its armor further. Once he’s back on his feet Derek readies his pistol and from this range he can’t miss. He takes aim and shoots the head off of the mech.

/\/\/\/\

They were able to meet with the quarian but he was…distraught would be an understatement. However Veetor did activate the cameras. Derek was given the video and Danny took Veetor with him as they returned to the Migrant Fleet. The videos quality had suffered some but it could still be seen as a massive swarm of what looked like insects descended on the colonists, then the video feed cut out and only opened to show a [collector](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Collector) forcing colonists into some kind of pod and moving them.

            "Alright," Derek spoke to Scott and Stiles on the shuttle as they leave Freedom's Promise. "I'll join." Scott and Stiles both smile like they've won the lottery.

            "Good" Stiles comments. "Now that the inevitable has been accepted." Derek glared at him a bit harder for that one. "We have a surprise for you." Derek raised an eyebrow but neither boy revealed anything further. After leaving the shuttle Stiles left to report to Peter and Scott lead him farther down to another port. Scott kept giving him strange pointed looks but just as he was about to speak a louder voice cut through the air and drowned out any words Scott may have spoken.

            "COMMANDER!" Oh God, Derek new that voice. "Don't act like you aren't happy to see me." There was no mistaking it.

            "Finstock." Derek greeted with as much cordiality he could muster (it wasn't much).

            "Hah!" Finstock laughed. "I knew you were some slippery bastard but coming back from the dead. And you’re not the only one, Christ." Derek felt his eyebrows furrow in confusion. Scott clears his throat to get their attention smiles brightly and directs them to a window, it dark but with a push of the button on the wall lights turned on and illuminated a ship, _his_ ship, the Beacon.

            "How?" Is the only word that Derek can muster despite that most of him is actually happy, excited to see something familiar...besides Finstock. It's not that he hated the man...it just that he had an extreme dislike for him, Finstock had once asked to be referred to as 'Coach' or 'Cupcake' but he was one of, if not the best pilots in the galaxy.

            "These cer-burrito guys are sketchy as all hell but the sure know how to make a spaceship." Finstock proclaims proudly...or something, there's really no telling with him sometimes. “This ship is so beautiful it arouses me.”

/\/\/\/\

The Beacon SR-2 was almost exactly like the Beacon SR-1 it was still his ship. When the original Beacon was attacked it was like losing his home all over again. But despite this he couldn’t really enjoy it. It was a _gift_ from Cerberus and no matter what he couldn’t forgive much less forget what Cerberus had done and Peter in charge of Cerberus made it no easier to stomach. Speaking of stomachs the now larger mess hall was in between an office for Lydia Martin the ‘true’ head of the Lazarus Project and the Medical Lab. Once Derek had set foot one the ship Stiles had told him that he would be needed for a physical so he needed to report to the Med Lab. Derek turns toward the right ignoring the smell of something truly horrendous being cooked. One of the things that was an unspoken blessing among human only crews was that the food was though not exactly gourmet it was at least _human_ but the way whatever it was that was being cooked smelled did not suggest any human would be able to eat it. Making his way over to the Med Lab the doors open and he’s met with a familiar face.

“Melissa?” The woman was looking over a computer but the second she heard Derek’s voice she turned and smiled.

“Commander,” She smiled crossing her arms and relaxing her posture. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” Derek lets an amused smirk escape. Melissa had been the doctor onboard the original Beacon, she was an expert on human and alien physiology, and she was also one of the best doctors in the Alliance.

“I thought Finstock was the only returning crewmember.” He can’t hide the tone of relief that paints his words. Melissa takes note but thankfully acknowledges it with a raised eyebrow only.

“Be glad you weren’t here when he first got on the ship.” Melissa sighs and her mouth twists into a disgusted frown. “He slept in the pilot’s chair, for three days straight, naked.” Derek mirrors her look. Derek’s about to question why she’s here but she beats him to it. Melissa was always intuitive, it’s partly what made her a great doctor, the other part was her dedication to her patients _and_ her expertise. “I bet your wondering what I’m doing here. Well when I found out that Cerberus was doing I knew I had to be a part of it. So got some leave and joined up. It especially isn’t so bad now that I can actually work with my son either.”

“Your son?” Derek’s eyebrows meet at the center. Melissa looks at him with a small amount of surprise on her face.

“Scott.” Even when recognition finally dawns on Derek’s face he can’t help but still feel a bit confused. “When I joined the Alliance it was before I had Scott, so when I got pregnant they grounded me to the Citadel where I worked and studied as a part of peace and learning program with the Alliance, but when Scott turned eighteen he joined the Alliance which is what allowed me to join you on the first Beacon.”

“Oh,” Derek remembered her telling him this before. About how her son was jealous that she got to serve on the Beacon, the top of the line stealth and reconnaissance ship while he was sent to guard an ambassador. “Scott didn’t mention he had a history with the Alliance.” At that her eyes lost some of the mirth within them.

“Scott…has a complex history with the Alliance.” She looks away from Derek and returns to the computer on her desk. “It isn’t my business to tell Commander. Just know that he’s a good man.” Derek isn’t sure what to say, but he does make a mental note to bring it up with Scott at some point. He not sure if he wants to though, he has a feeling it going to be particularly awkward. “Oh well.” Melissa sighs. “I need you to remove your armor for the physical Commander.” Derek nods and while he removes his armor Melissa’s omni-tool lights up. The orange frame covers her arm while she waves it over Derek’s form to scan him. “Alright now I need you to lay down on this table.” Melissa hand Derek a towel to cover himself, she turns so he can finish undressing once he’s on the table she activates an overhead scanner. “Alright Greenburg I need you to contact Ms. Martin.” Melissa yells her request to the open air.

“Is Greenburg the ship’s virtual intelligence?” Derek asks with a scowl. It’s not that he has anything against VI’s but Derek once has to destroy a rogue VI on the Alliance Luna Base. It had killed everyone inside the base. That and the Avina VIs on the Citadel were annoying and unhelpful when it came to directions.

“Uh…” Melissa begins but closes her mouth with a clack, the look on her face tells Derek that he’s about to hear something he isn’t going to like.

“Greenburg is an AI.” Derek turns his head to see the red-headed woman he remembers from when he first woke up, Lydia, in the doorway, she wearing a white and blue cross between a [lab coat](http://images.wikia.com/powerlisting/images/6/69/Dr._Liara_T'Soni.jpg) and armor. Stiles is behind her, he’s carrying large white paper bag, Derek’s rising anger is halted for the second he notices Stiles’ eyes traveling over his body. Stiles eyes travel upward and meet Derek’s. “Greenburg begin recording for data log code ‘Alpha 6623’.” Derek’s anger returns full force.

“An AI?” Derek spits out his attention on Lydia. “Like the Geth? Like the goddamn Reapers?!” Derek tries to get up but Stiles moves to the table placing a hand on Derek’s shoulder keeping him from moving. “How can you be so stupid to let something like that on this ship?” Lydia ignores him.

“Melissa, Lydia this is the phenomenon I contacted you about.” Stiles gestures to Derek face, and Derek gets the urge to bite him.

“I see what you mean.” Melissa nods and then looks to Derek. “I believe that Stiles has already brought up the change that occurs with your eyes during periods of high emotion.” Derek doesn’t answer but he remembers Stiles mentioning is when he had him against a wall.

“Greenburg, end recording.” Lydia speaks calmly but she’s eyeing Derek in a way that would make lesser men wet themselves. Stiles takes a step back from the table and grabs the white bag long forgotten on the floor. “I’m going to want to review this later.” The Greenburg doesn’t make any sound of acknowledgement but Lydia takes the silence as confirmation. She turns her attention to Derek. “I don’t think the phenomenon should have any adverse effects but its better safe than sorry. Though I do have my theories that it was caused by being released before the reconstruction of your face was complete.” Derek just moves his glare from Stiles to Lydia. He’s not letting this AI thing be swept under the rug. They can’t be trusted. He should know he fought enough Geth and a giant homicidal sentient Machine bent on ending civilized organic life.

 “Don’t be so sour, I come bearing gifts.” Stiles offers the bag to Derek but he doesn’t accept the bag. Melissa stands to the side looking between the two. Eventually Melissa sighs and takes the bag from Stiles.

/\/\/\/\

What was in the bag was a [N7 leather jacket](http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120311040322/masseffect/images/archive/f/fa/20120312181423!N7_Leather_Jacket.png). And to be completely honest, he liked it. Before he joined the Alliance Derek had an old leather jacket that his father had given him it wasn’t in as great condition and it wasn’t made from the high end leather that this one was but it was nice to have something familiar. The leather was a dark brown with a crimson line trailing down each shoulder and arm and a crimson accent on some of the stitching, with the N7 logo over the left breast. The fact that it was N7 made him like it all the more because it reminded him that he **was** N7. It was what he worked for, sweated for, and bled for, it also helped remind him he **wasn’t** Cerberus even if his uncle was. *The "N" designates Special Forces and the "7" refers to the highest level of proficiency. It applies to marines who have graduated from the Interplanetary Combative Training program. Initially, candidates train for more than 20 hours per day, leading small combat teams through hostile terrain with little sleep or food. Trainees who do well are awarded an internal designation of N1 and are invited to return. Subsequent courses - N2 through N6 - are often held off-planet and include instruction in zero-G combat, military free-fall (parachuting), jetpack flight, combat diving, combat instruction, linguistics, and frontline trauma care for human and alien biology.*

*The highest grade of training, N6, provides actual combat experience in combat zones throughout the galaxy. If the trainee survives these scenarios in "admirable and effective fashion," he or she finally receives the N7 designation.* He completed it just as Laura had before him. It had never been Derek’s plan to join the Alliance, he had once dreamed of discovering the galaxy for himself but what had really drawn him to the stars was discovering the secrets left behind by the Protheans (Ironic since joining the Alliance led his track record and his N7 training which led him to being considered for becoming a spectre which led to his mission on Eden Prime, there he was infused with a Prothean warning about the Reapers through a damaged prothean beacon, which than lead to the whole hunt after Saren which allowed him more freedom in exploring the galaxy than possibly any other human, being a Spectre did have its benefits).

Perhaps the most ironic thing about joining the Alliance (since now that he knows that Peter is the head of Cerberus) is that he joined because it was the only way that he and Laura were able to pay for Peter's care. They had money from insurance, and with it they had paid for Peter's treatment, re-growing skin and a few organs was expensive but covered by insurance. However Peter didn't wake up and keeping him in a good facility on the Citadel was...expensive. Days turned to weeks and then months, Laura had bought them an apartment so they could be near Peter but eventually it became clear he wasn't going to wake up. Knowing the money wasn't going to last forever Laura joined the Alliance, as a Biotic she was accepted quickly and left almost immediately after agreeing to join. Laura’s paycheck went to paying for the apartment and Peter. Derek had been left behind by his sister he knew she hadn't ' _left_ ' him but that's how it felt and coupled with the loss of his family and the guilt of knowing it was his fault he fell.

What little money Laura was able to send him Derek spent on red sand and eventually c-sec arrested him. Derek was lucky though, many of the alien members of Citadel security had wanted to ship him off to earth since his legal guardian was gone and he was basically a drug addict, a human member of c-sec, something very rare and highly unexpected, took him aside got him treatment and then before he knew it Derek was shipped off to Grissom Academy. There it was...much like being on the colony. Many of the other students were either Biotics or had special talents that the Alliance was interested in exploring. There he had met few other Biotics that he got along with (to be more accurate he tolerated them and they weren't afraid of him). During his time at Grissom Academy though Laura would contact him and let him know what she was doing, how she was doing but on her last transmission she let it slip that the money for Peter's care was running short and her paycheck wouldn't be able to cover it. So Derek joined the Alliance.

Despite that joining the Alliance hadn't been his first choice, Derek was good at what they needed him to do. And the rest is history.

/\/\/\/\/\

"Do you like your gift?" Scott asked when Derek walked into the armory. "Stiles thought you’d like it." Derek was wearing said gift and a shirt he found in the captains quarters along with a pair of boots and the tightest pair of jeans he has ever worn.

"Stiles bought the jacket?" Derek asked nonplussed. The thought had crossed his mind but he hadn't let himself dwell on the idea.

"Yeah. Though Lydia bought the rest of your clothes." Scott smiled. But his smiled disappeared soon after. "So I heard you talked with my mom." Derek nodded. "Commander I promise that having my mother on board will not interfere with the way I perform my duties." Scott saluted afterward looking very much like an Alliance soldier and Derek couldn't help but have his curiosity piqued.

"You have a history with the Alliance." Despite not being as talkative as Laura, Derek knew how to get his information from people without having to ask a question. Though Laura would say it's because he doesn't know how to use question marks.

"Yes, sir." Scott tacked on the 'sir' quickly after. "I joined when I turned eighteen. I wanted to help people like my mother did."

"If so than why didn't you join as a medic." Derek knew the answer, but he felt it was important to hear Scott admit it.

"I'm a biotic. - Sir." The obvious answer, momentarily caught Scott off guard making him forget his 'manners'. "The Alliance wants biotics for combat, I had no use as a medic." The bitter tone that Scott took even with Derek barely knowing the young man seemed odd to him. "I wanted to help people though, and even if I couldn't do it medically, I could do it by keeping them from needing a doctor."

"That's admirable." Derek comments as if stating fact.

"Thank you Commander."

"So why did you leave?" At that Scott's face falls.

"Commander, I-" Scott begins but loses his voice and looks away as if trying to find the right words. "We never did what we needed to do." Scott settles with that answer and with a look from Derek continues. "For the most part we would be sent somewhere and we would play security guard and protect an ambassador or in larger units a colony or escort a fleet, but don't get me wrong I loved being able to help people. Sometimes colony protection could get boring when we established the colony but I liked helping people, keeping them safe. But when it really counted. When it came to doing what needed to be done the Alliance failed." Derek could tell by the look in Scott's eyes he had one particular memory that painted what had happened. But Scott even with all his openness and friendliness, Derek could tell this was one memory Scott didn't want to relive.

"So tell me about your history with Cerberus." It wasn't exactly a change in subject but the tangent in conversation was still related and yet different enough that Scott returned to his usual self without it being awkward.

"Well, when I was still with the Alliance I had heard rumors about Cerberus and what you had done to their-our bases." Scott shrugged and gave a wry smile. "When I left the Alliance I was approached by a Cerberus recruiter but I turned her down. I didn't think about it until Stiles messaged me about it."

"Stiles?" Though it was a question and thus Derek would sound curious he was lucky that Scott did not catch how 'genuinely' curious he was.

"Yeah," Scott nods. "He and Lydia had been recruited by the Illusive Man a few years before and when he heard about me leaving the Alliance he thought it would be cool."

"How long have you two known each other exactly?" Derek forced himself to relax his posture when he realized that he was tensing his shoulders. This is a completely casual question....it **is**.

"Since we were like seven and six." Scott smiles at some childhood memory. "Although he and Lydia have been together since before they were born.

"Together?" Derek questions.

"Yeah Stiles has had tons of genetic modifications. He was made for Lydia." _'What the hell does that mean?_ ' Derek thinks (completey un-) morosely.

"But we met on the Citadel. My mom and Stiles and Lydia's parents all lived on the Citadel. Their parents were private citizens though, my mom worked at Huerta Memorial hospital since she couldn't serve in the Alliance while I was still a minor.

"So why did Stiles join Cerberus?" Derek here's himself ask before he can stop the question.

"I don't really know." Scott answers, completely unaware that the questioning has led to Stiles. "He told me once because Lydia convinced him that they needed to test themselves and their limits. But I think he just wanted to make sure Lydia wasn't over her head. He was in love with her for like ten years."

"Ten years?" Again, another question escapes without his permission.

"Yeah, like I said Stiles was made for Lydia. He took it seriously." Then Scott seems to realize what he says and looks at Derek with a narrowed eyed stare. "If you wanna know more you'll have to ask him or Lydia."

Well Derek was right. The conversation with Scott was awkward, however it was at the end and it was his own fault. No, he takes that back, it was Stiles fault and his stupid, stupid, (very stupid, and did he mention stupid) uniform.

/\/\/\/\

Derek finds Lydia in her office. He wasn’t sure what to expect from her but she wanted to speak with him and he did kinda sorta owe the fact that he was currently more than meat and tubes to her. She sitting at her desk and looks up briefly when he enters the room. She finishes typing something up while Derek looks out the window. Windows on a spaceship. It’s a structural and combat weakness but he can see the appeal.

“A metal sheet is descended upon the windows in order to make sure the ship is still safe during combat.” Lydia acknowledges Derek’s thought without needing a prompt. He turns his attention back to her, he can tell when he’s being sized up by others and Lydia is definitely sizing him up.

“You wanted to see me.” Derek goes for fact.

“Yes,” Lydia stands from her chair and walks over to a plant she has in the corner. She lifts a small water pale from the ground and begins to water it. The blue flowers are pretty, he guesses, but is seems odd that she would keep a poisonous flower on board. “ _Aconitum noveboracense_ , also known as Northern Blue Monkshood, only found in Iowa, Wisconsin, Ohio, and New York. Do you know the other name that this plant goes by?” She fingers the petal waiting for Derek to answer.

“Wolfsbane.” Derek answers and oddly he knows where this conversation is going.

“Yes, one of the few ingredients to Red Sand that can be found on Earth.**”

“And?” Derek asks.

“And?” Lydia asks as if testing the word in her mouth. “Simply this, it is the catalyst that makes Red Sand so effective and it is also the ingredient that makes it so deadly. However this species is special. If grown in the presence of element zero it produces its own Mass Effect field. Nothing strong enough to lift cars. But it has an interesting effect when it’s introduced to the system of a Biotic**.”

“How interesting.” Derek knows he’s being threatened he just isn’t sure how. “Care to speak plainly?” Lydia just smiles.

“Cerberus has goals, Derek. You can help us reach those goals or we can cut our losses. And don’t misunderstand you would be a major loss. But what has been done has been done, I have proven that it is possible to bring someone back from death and as much as I would hate to waste those years of work I will do what I must. Are we clear?”

“Perfectly.” Derek answers, though he can tell that Lydia is serious in her threat he also knows its posturing. He’s already agreed to help them.

“Now I suppose you may have some question.” Despite opening herself for questions Lydia has already begun typing on her computer; a hint of dismissal. When he doesn’t speak she decides to make her dismissal voiced. “Stiles has some things he needs to speak to you about.”

/\/\/\/\

The ships bridge was just like Derek remembered it. However it lacked many of the faces that he got to know on his old crew. Of course ‘faces’ isn’t what he’s looking at right now because Stiles is bending over a computer for no reason in front of the CIC (Combat Information Center). Derek clears his throat and Stiles jumps righting himself.

“Commander, welcome to your place of work.” Stiles gestures to the galaxy map, currently displaying the Citadel, and a private terminal next to it. “Here you can access your mail, send messages, check on matters of the ship and all other things.” Stiles smiles.

“So what are you doing here?”

“Here in general?” Stiles makes a motion around the terminal he’s standing at. “Or like may place in the universe or why I’m on this ship, with Cerberus?” Derek just stares him down with a look and Stiles sighs. “My life story huh? Either tell me to stop now or you’ll hear it.” When Derek said nothing Stiles sighs again. “Fine. For starters. I was born on the Citadel. My mom was a goodwill ambassador and my father worked for C-sec.”

“C-sec?” Derek asks, though he had met a human C-sec officer it was a rarity.

“Yeah, one of the first. Dad was really proud of that.” Though he tried to hide it, Derek could see the minute way Stiles face fell. It made sense though Stiles father probably wouldn’t be glad that Stiles was working for Cerberus. “Anyway mom and dad couldn’t get pregnant so they decided to go with artificial insemination but both my parents were carriers for a genetic defect, and even with how common genetic modification is it was still expensive.” Stiles gets a bit quieter after that but he continues. “My parents were approached by a representative for a project that was going to take genetic modification to a whole new level. He used their DNA and tinkered a bit…or a lot, until they were able to create a viable embryo with the desired attributes. The procedure was designed to unlock _potential_ and _perfection._ ” Stiles says “perfection” and “potential” with a sneer.

“How exactly does that work?”

“Well you see, all humans have different genes, alleles. Some that say our hair is brown or our skin is pale, or that we have a genetic defect that prevents us from developing past 3 weeks in utero. However the process worked by removing and reintroducing DNA from past sources. Basically they would take full DNA from my parents and supplement “junk DNA” or what they deemed undesirable and meld the desired DNA in. And in cases where the gene was absent or couldn’t be found well…they found other places to retrieve the gene. Anyway the whole point of the experiment was to create a procedure that could be used on all genetic types and transferred to others while still reaching maximum potential within the subject. My tinkering was written down step by step and when they decided I was acceptable I was ‘allowed’ to be born. My parents were just happy they had a healthy baby.”

“So you are still genetically your parent’s child?” Stiles nods.

“I’ve just had some stuff done.”

“I thought you were made for Lydia.” Derek blurts out. He schools himself quickly but Stiles is already smirking.

“Scott told you about that?” Stiles crosses his arms but still seems relaxed. “I was literally made for Lydia but not in a creepy forced companion way. The Martins, Lydia’s parents, funded the experiments. They wanted a perfect daughter, I was just the trial run, and after a few months of observation after I was born my genetic markers were used to create Lydia. Then I was observed through my developmental years in case any unforeseen characteristics should arise, since Lydia was still a child she could be modified safely with the correct procedures. I was forced to grow oh natural so my genetic markers wouldn’t be tainted”

“So when Scott said that Lydia convinced you to join Cerberus…” Derek leads and allows the thread to die but Stiles picks up the end.

“Lydia wanted to join and I joined because she made a good point about us being able to reach our potential, I mean after all we did rebuild you.” Stiles eyes travel over Derek’s body, taking close attention to his chest and then lower and rise again to his abdomen.

“You spent two years looking at my body are you sure you need to keep looking?” Stiles eyes jerk upward, a slight blush begins to color his cheeks. Derek smirks to himself and walks to the elevator and presses the button to return to his quarters. But before the doors have fully closed he hears an almost whispered.

“We did damn good work.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lydia was always meant to take Miranda’s place since both are beautiful, brilliant, big bitch on campus. However due to the reasons listed above Stiles has also taken Miranda’s place. I hope their backstory helped make some sense.
> 
> I stated that Derek wanted to see the galaxy, It made sense that little Derek would want to see more of the world and that’s why a beautiful older more worldly woman, Kate, would have been able to seduce him. There was no Page in this universe. 
> 
> *This is an excerpt from the Mass Effect Wikia article on N7*  
> **This is complete fabrication on my part. I thought it would help introduce some of the wolfsbane lore seen in Teen Wolf in a different way. Mostly don for kicks.
> 
> Leave me some comments out ask me questions on my tumblr http://gravity-did-it.tumblr.com/


	3. The Citadel:  The Place for Belligerent Siblings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek, Scott and Lydia head to the Citadel to recruit their first new member. Derek also meets his elder sister, who has some choice words for him, and a person from his past.
> 
> Short Chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short chapter. And I have decided that for the most part I am going to keep with the three member squad like in the game. (speaking of games I lost it) So at the beginning Derek will start with various different members to his groups until he decides who he gets along with, although members will change depending on their abilities and what’s needed for a mission or on what they know or if they want to tag along. However on certain trips like ones to a different port/planet the entire crew may get off.  
> *quote from the game  
> **quote from Mass Effect Wikia

The Citadel hadn’t changed much, well considering the very last time Derek had seen the Citadel it was overrun with [geth](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Geth), a few husks and also more than a few debris from destroyed Alliance ships and a [Reaper](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Reapers) than it had changed a lot. But the Citadel was looking like it had before then, and he’s not sure to how to feel about it. It was like the attack had never happened. Then he made the mistake of asking one of the [Avina](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Avina) VIs what had happened. She answered that the geth had attacked the Citadel, led by the rogue spectre Saren. Derek had felt himself grit his teeth as he questioned the VI about the Reapers and then the stupid thing said it had no information on the term. IT had the gall to call C-sec security on him while he shoved his fist through he terminal with a little Biotic strength behind it. Which brought him, Scott and Lydia to the detainment room of C-sec.

            “You just had to kill Avina didn’t you?” Lydia asks flipping her hair and sending him a withering glare. Derek just glares back.

            “Come on Lydia, it’s not fair that the Council is hiding the truth from everyone.” Scott comes to Derek’s defense but he was in a slightly sour mood, not because of what the Council did but because he knew that Stiles would have gotten a kick out of what Derek did. Why Stiles stayed on the ship was anyone’s guess. A [turian](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Turians) member of c-sec had walked them through a scanner when he gave Derek a surprised look. Now they were sitting on a bench just waiting.

            “We are going to be late for our appointment.” Lydia states with a huff of annoyance. They wait a little longer until an older man, a human, walks into the room, his skin bequeaths his age but his eyes show a bright, show an alertness that Derek hasn’t seen in many people, period.

            “Commander Hale?” The man questions. He crosses his arms and his eyes narrow while his mouth curves into a questioning frown. He looks to the same turian from earlier to his right who shows him a datapad. “You really are him.” The man answers his own question with a small amount of awe laced in his voice. “I-We thought you were dead.” He seems to catch himself and in a much more professional tone speaks again. “Our scanners listed you as dead.”

            “I was listed MIA a couple of years ago.”

            “Yeah,” The man nods. “Your gonna wanna reinstate your ID than.”

            “How do I do that?” Derek asks.

            “*Usually, you’d have to go through the Station security administration to regain your IDs. Then a stop by Customs and Immigration to gain access to the Citadel. And then probably a stop by the Treasury, spending a year dead is a popular tax dodge. But you seem to be busy, so how about I just press this button? And we call it done.*” Derek nods and….then gets reminded of something. The man presses the button. “Good working with you, go and save the galaxy or whatever it is you do.” The Man turns to the turian. “Cassius, let em leave, but make sure they have the bill for the VI terminal.”

            “Come on sheriff!” Scott yells from the side.

            “Scott he destroyed a VI terminal, an expensive VI terminal.”

            “It was spectre business.” Derek tries. ‘Spectre business’ was the exact phrase needed to do anything in the galaxy, Spectre’s had the freedom to do anything as long as it got their mission done.

            “Really?” The _sheriff_ asks with an expression letting the trio know that he isn’t having any of it. “Right now he isn’t a spectre so he can come back with a reinstatement and we’ll talk but until then…” Then it clicks, the sheriff, that’s what the other c-sec members had called the one that sent him to Grissom Academy. He had been a sheriff on Earth so the others nicknamed him as such.

            “Derek,” The Sheriff levels him with a look taking in note that Derek realizes who he is. “Your sister would probably want to see you after all this time.” Derek nods and the Sheriff lets them through. But before they can he speaks again. “Lydia, how is he?” His voice is quieter, solemn even. Lydia looks the sheriff in the eye and give him a small smiles.

“He’s good.” Before Derek can question it he’s escorted out and on his way to the Presidium.

/\/\/\/

            The Human Embassy is located in the Presidium of the Citadel. The [Presidium](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Presidium) seems to be as picturesque and calm and beautiful as it’s always been, Derek sorta hated it. It wasn’t that he hated that the Presidium was repaired, back to its old self of blue ponds, white walls and greenery, but it was as if everything that had happened, not just Derek’s hard work and blood while fighting Sovereign and Saren but also all the lives lost, all swept under the rug. But there was a reason he came to the Citadel (well there was two but this one was more important) and there she stood on the balcony of the Human Embassy overlooking the Presidium.

            Laura turned around when she heard the door slide open she looked at her brother with surprise clear on her face. Derek smiled. His sister was dressed in a floor length blue dress and she looked very much like a diplomat with her dark hair tied high into a bun.

            “Derek?” His sister whispers, not believing her eyes. She blinks rapidly as if testing that the image in front of her is indeed real. “Derek?” She takes a tentative step forward, not yet trusting, her eyes shine with unshed tears.

            “It’s me Laura.” Derek nods and takes a step forward. It seems that was enough for her.

            “Derek!” Laura runs forward and wraps her arms around Derek in a death grip. “I-I thought you were dead.” Derek feels a dampness in his shirt from where Laura’s tears have spilled over. Despite scene their making Derek ignores Scott and Lydia. Laura unwraps her arms from Derek and before he knows it he thrown backward by a Biotic throw. Laura’s arms is outstretched toward Derek her hand has a circular blue Biotic aura around it, her palm facing him. This was more like the Laura he grew up with. “I thought you were DEAD!” She yells her face blotchy with anger. She retracts her arm and Derek lands deftly on his feet Laura wasn’t actually trying to hurt him, though she certainly had the ability and know how. Derek advances but his face is met with a Bitoic slap before he can get a step forward. “TWO YEARS! Two goddamn years I thought you were dead!” Another slap and Derek keeps his ground allowing her to continue. “Derek you-you can’t do that.” She reals her hand back for another slap, her hand glowing brightly when her voice cracks. “You left me alone Derek. I knew that it was always a possibility with what you do but you were alive somewhere how could you let me go through that?”

            “I wasn’t conscious for most of that time Laura.” He snaps. Laura didn’t hurt him with her _display_ well he can’t say that when it came to his proud but it was his older sister. The question is obviously there in the crease of Laura’s eyebrows when Lydia speaks up.

            “Councilor Hale.” Her voice is polite, though slightly annoyed. “Commander Hale’s body was recovered after being Spaced he was then rebuilt by a benefactor.” Any trace of Laura’s emotions disappear as she takes in her brother’s _entourage_.

            “Something tells me this ‘Benefactor’ is Cereberus.” Derek sees the surprise on Lydia and Scott but only Lydia is able to school herself back to a more acceptable decorum.

            “You are very well informed Councilor Hale.”

            “It comes with knowing the right people.” Derek watches as his sister enters her “must be striking” mode (a mode he named when he was still a child and she a budding adolescent). “So I guess you’re here to do more than meet your wonderful sister after two years. Let me call the rest of the [council](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Citadel_Council). He knew he would have to meet with the council, but he also knew it wasn’t going to be a pleasant experience. The Council is the ultimate authority in Citadel space, passing judgment for violations of Council law, settling disputes between governments, and maintaining law and order, often through the use of its own covert intelligence service, the Spectres**, such as Derek. The Council is an executive committee composed of one representative each from the member species. Though they have no official power over the independent governments of other species, the Council's decisions carry great weight throughout the galaxy. No single Council race is strong enough to defy the others, and all have a vested interest in compromise and cooperation**. Derek learned that though they were interest in peace, peace normally meant completely disregarding every warning he ever had about _anything_. They had ignored his warning when he told the Saren had gone rogue and when he realized that the Saren meant to attack the Citadel _and_ anything to do with the Reapers was dismissed as him being gullible or (though never stated plainly but heavily implied) because he was human.

            In short, Derek was lucky his sister was with him. He had never really liked the Council members much, especially the Turian councilor, he was an ass. And the [Salarian](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Salarian) councilor could be just as loathsome. The [Asari](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Asari) councilor was just…not exactly ‘useless’ but whatever the hell she, or not he…(Asari are a monogender species, though they are all in effect sexually female, Derek knew that much, thank you Consort Sha’ira) was it equated to just as much. He may have yelled questioned why he saved their asses when they _still_ wouldn’t listen to him. Again though luckily his sister was there and she reeled in some of his anger and was able to distract the Councilor’s long enough to get reinstated as a spectre.

/\/\/\

            “So were good to leave now.” Derek announces to Lydia and Scott after Laura’s assistant came walking in ready with a list of appointments. Laura hugged Derek tightly and told him if he ever died again she’s kill him.

            “Not just yet.” Lydia announces taking a seat outside Zekara Ward, a shopping district of the Citadel. “We have someone we need to recruit. I’ve already sent her a message with all the details, all that’s left is for you to talk to her.

            “Where do we meet her?” Derek almost growls but tamps down the urge. Out of the corner of his eyes Derek sees light flickering. He turns his attention toward it but he only sees a young woman on an advertisement board. She pretty, with dark brown hair and brown eyes, in an instant she seems familiar but the familiarity is washed away when he realizes that she’s speaking, _to_ him.

            “Commander Hale. Having a good time on the Citadel?” She gives a friendly smile but before Derek can respond Scott has brushed past him and smiling in a very smitten way.

            “Allison.” He smiles. The woman, Allison, looks down she smiles looking just as smitten and then snaps out of it quickly and returns her attention to Derek.

            “Commander I hear you’re looking for help.” Derek looks around for her, she has to be transmitting from somewhere near or the transmission wouldn’t be able to react this accurately.

            “I am, what exactly can you do?”

            “I have talent when it comes to tech, aim with an omni-bow and omni-crossbow, infiltration and I specialize in covert object procuring.”

            “You mean you’re a thief.” A thief with an impressive resume if what she says is true but…Scott snorts and get’s Derek’s attention when he realizes he has Derek’s glare he hastily and proudly explains.

            “Allison Argent is the most famous thief you’ve never heard of. You may have heard of her heists but never of her.” True Derek had never heard of an Allison but he did know of the name Argent.

            “You’re an Argent.” It’s not a question. He doesn’t need it to be one. Allison’s eyes narrow and alight with recognition all at once.

            “You know my aunt and grandfather where both members of Cerberus, my grandfather was once the Illusive Man, the first actually. But I have never been a member. My parents didn’t believe in the same things that Gerard and Kate did, they had a code. I made my own way.” She leaves it at that, letting Derek decide. He would rather stick needles into his eyes than have an Argent on his crew. That being said he can’t be picky. His mission was to save lives and if had to sacrifice some comfort than he would. That didn’t mean he had to like it, or trust her.

            “What are you getting out of this?” Allison’s surprise is obvious.

            “I need a little help acquiring something of mine.” Her voice isn’t exactly defensive but he can hear her an amount of discomfort.

            “Welcome aboard!” Scott yells before Derek can say anything else. Small arches of electricity arch around the air next to Derek and there stands Allison. She did have talent. Her [outfit](http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120325220532/masseffect/images/2/23/ME3_Ashley_Alt_Outfit_3.png) is one that can easily be mistaken for a civilian outfit, it’s primarily white with red sides and sleeves along with red leggings. She has white shoulder plates, knee guards and boots that complete the ensemble that allow it to double as armor. It makes sense that a thief would have armor that doubled as civilian clothes. If she were to ever set off an alarm she could hide in a crowd if she went unseen and if she ever needed the protection of armor it was there as well.

\/\/\/

            Once they arrive on the Beacon Stiles takes one look at Scott and Allison and rolls his eyes. Stiles imparts some advice as Derek walks past.

            “You’re gonna wanna be careful putting them on missions together. Scott can get distracted.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Consort offers personal services as well as entertainment and conversation, but she is also known for the value of her advice. In the first game you get a mission from her and at the end if you are unimpressed with her gift of words than you can sleep with her. The reason why I added this in is because for one I like the consort, two Derek as a shepherd wouldn't have been impressed with her advice and that is the result so I thought why not.  
> I went with Ashley’s outfit instead of Kasumi’s since Ashley’s style seemed more fitting for Allison. And I went with her red outfit since I barely see Allison wear blue.


	4. Alpha on Omega

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek travels to Omega in order to recruit three new crew members. He meets one early on who bring on more uncomfortable feelings. But before he can meet with the second he must meet with the Leader of Omega. Then he meets the scientist needed to combat the Collector tech.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I said that you’ll find out who takes Garrus place in chapter four? Well I lied its chapter 5.  
> Also, School has started once again so my writing has slowed way the frick down, as such…well sorry. My organic chem class is slowly murdering me.

“We need something to combat the Collector’s stasis inducing technology.” Stiles spring on Derek the second the elevator opens allowing him to walk onto the CIC.

            “What?” It takes him a second for the actual statement Stiles made to reach his brain before he realizes that Stiles was referring to. And he had a point, after studying the video of Freedom’s Progress and cleaning it up it revealed that the ‘swarm’ that descended on the colonists had left them immobile, whether through a Biotic Stasis field or chemical stimulus had not been determined yet.

            “The insects. If we are going after the collectors we can’t be rendered immobile the second we hit land.” Stiles crossed his arms over his chest, luckily Derek was becoming used to seeing Stiles do that mannerism because his eyes were no longer dragged to Stiles’ chest for an awkward amount of time (he was able to shorten it to only two seconds). To Derek’s continued chagrin no one (still) didn’t seem to notice the _inducing nature_ of Stiles attire. Though that was a hard-No! Difficult- No, just a problem for later. Actually, no there was no, problem. And he was going too long without saying something wasn’t he? The look on Stiles face didn’t suggest he was privy to Derek’s thoughts. Derek cleared his throat before speaking.

            “What do you suggest?”

            “I spoke with Lydia and Scott and we know of a scientist who may be able to help us.” Stiles eyes seemed to twinkle. “He is on Omega where two other people we are looking to take on are as well.”

            “Omega?” Derek questioned. It wasn’t a question about Omega, Derek already knew what Omega was. It’s a space station that was or still is an asteroid, the asteroid was high in Element Zero, the element that made Fast Than Light possible and biotic powers. The Station has been created and added to by the species that took residence on the asteroid and eventually it grew to what it was today. However Omega has been a haven for criminals, terrorists, and malcontents for thousands of years. So the fact that a Scientist who has the knowledge to combat Collector technology was there would mean he’s either in hiding or a criminal (who is in hiding). “If he’s on Omega are you sure we can trust him?”

            “Scott thinks so.” Stiles answers nonchalantly. “And I think with the Collectors and the Reapers as a threat we can trust that he would rather not die.”

            “So who are we looking for?” Derek unknowingly mirrors Stiles stance and crosses his arms as well.

            “His name; Alan Deaton.”

/\/\/\/\

            After Derek and his crew get off of the Beacon there are almost immediately met with a sleazy looking Salarian.

            “You must be knew here!” His voice is higher pitched and excited. “I can tell. I can always tell. How would you like-” The Salarian cuts off when a clacking noise echoes across throughout the metal hallway. A woman walks slowly, with a gait that could only be described as predatory, toward them. She is dressed in a tight [suit](http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121009221424/masseffect/images/2/2e/ME3_Asari_Huntress.png), like what he’s seen some Asari wear, however her boots are armored with a metal plate but at the end the plate has five claws. Each step the claws create a clack and the Salarian flinches. Derek has never seen a Salarian sweat before (he not sure if it’s even possible for them) but he wouldn’t be surprised if this one was the first.

            “Farget.” The woman doesn’t smile but her voice is mockingly friendly and viscous. The woman does smile at Derek as the Salarian, runs off. “Welcome to Omega, Commander Hale. I am Kali.”

            “You know who I am.”  The fact that he died didn’t seem to do him any favors on the being well known front.

            “Of course, we had you tagged the second you entered the Terminus System.” Her smile is gone and any semblance, even a mockery, of amity is gone. “Deucalion wants to know what brings a dead Spectre to Omega. Do not keep the Demon Wolf waiting. I suggest you get yourself to Afterlife.” The woman leaves before Derek can answer and perhaps it was better that way because before they know it a Batarian yells in pain as a man knees him in the stomach.

            “Dad?!” Allison yells as once they’ve gotten closer. The man turns around and Derek can’t see the resemblance between him and Allison at all (maybe the chin). But what he does see is a resemblance to Kate. Though the man’s hair is lighter blonde and his eyes are a cold blue there is something about him (like Allison and Kate) that is simply _Argent_. His [armor](http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120417003140/masseffect/images/2/27/ME3_Zaeed_Citadel.png) is yellow with scuffs here and there that speak of battle the man has fought. “What are you doing here?”

            “Allison,” He greets his daughter with a smile, ignoring the question.

            “We hired him to join the crew.” Lydia answers. A look of betrayal flashes over Allison’s face but Derek is sure it’s nothing compared to his own. It was bad enough having one Argent on his Crew but _two_. “Chris Argent, Derek – Derek, Chris Argent.”

            “We know this might be a bit awkward.” Stiles begins, though his attention is more on Derek than Allison. “But we need someone with his expertise.”

            “I’m trained in long range and short range combat, tracking, trained in hand-to-and combat and sixteen different weapons and firearms and am one of the most known mercenaries in the Galaxy.”

            “It’s true.” Allison admits sounding somewhat dejected. “Terminus Monthly named him the year’s most reliable merc.”

            “And number nine on their Top 100 Sexiest Men Alive.” Lydia adds in a whisper that Derek unfortunately hears.

            “And he’s already been paid and we’ve agreed to help him out with a request of his.” It would seem his hands are tied. He is really going to have to have Stiles actually give him the dossiers on the people they’re recruiting.

            “Help him out? What is it you need?” Derek asks turning toward Chris. Chris gives a pointed look toward Allison.

            “We’ll talk later.” Derek leaves it at that, for now. “So where do we go?”

            “Afterlife.” Stiles answers. “Omega’s a big station and though Deucalion may be a megalomaniac *cough*deathdestroyerofworlds*cough. But if there is anything worth knowing he knows it. Nothing happens on Omega without him knowing.”

/\/\/\/\

            Afterlife is a dance club owned and run by Deucalion. A human biotic who came to Omega just shy of a decade ago and then ruthlessly slew, tortured and bribed anyone who stood in his way to become the ‘Alpha of Omega’. His rule over Omega is absolute, however he is not an oppressive ruler. Despite his hold on the station the people are free to do as they please….as long as it doesn’t get in his way. They has gotten to the entrance of Afterlife when Lydia stopped them.

            “Commander, we can’t be with you when you speak with Deucalion.”

            “He may see it as a threat.” Derek finishes the thought for her. “Alright, Lydia and Stiles your both with me. The rest of you head back to the Beacon I’ll contact you if we need you.” Lydia and Stiles have startlingly matching looks of pleasure on their faces, which Derek chalks up to their genetic engineering. Scott however looked a bit downtrodden until Allison placed a hand on his arm and Chris had looked uncaring until he saw Allison’s gesture to Scott. Afterlife was larger than Derek expected. Afterlife is load, brightly lit in some areas and dark in the corners for obvious underhanded business to take place and is filled with human and asari dancers wearing what is probably the only dancers [outfit](http://www.crackingace.com/wp-content/gallery/asari/dancer.jpg) in the galaxy…not that’s he’s complaining it’s just a valid observation. A few of the patrons on the dance floor coax Stiles onto the floor and for a second he looks like he’s might consider it until Lydia whispers something in his ear making Stiles jump and look slightly scared and nervous. Derek knew bringing Lydia was a good idea. Derek looks up beyond the walk way above the circular bar with dancers at poles to see a balcony, Kali stands at the top and spies Derek she than whispers to sitting blond man. Well finding Deucalion was much easier than expected.

            After moving through the crowd. Derek and crew stand before the Alpha of Omega. He doesn’t seem like much. He’s wearing a simple outfit that most spacer’s (those who live their lives in spaceships and stations) wear, his arms are bear and show strong musculature. But what holds Derek’s attention is the man is wearing sunglasses….in side….a dark lit club. Despite that, and his plain appearance there is something about Deucalion that declares and demands attention.

            “I may be blind but even I can tell that’s the real Derek Hale without needing a scan.” The warlord announces, his voice has an accent that Derek can’t place and a quality that makes it unique. “Sit please.” Derek does so after eyeballing the twin guards situated at Deucalion’s sides. “Your biotic aura is so much like your mothers.” That throws him.

            “You knew my mother?”

            “Yes,” There is a friendly lilt to his voice but Derek doesn’t trust it. “You could say we were ‘neighbors’ our colony was a sister to you and your family’s.” Derek tries to not let his memories affect him.

            “So you run Omega.” It’s not a question but it gains him a smirk from Deucalion and an answer.

            “I am the Alpha of Omega!” Deucalion’s answer is accompanied by an increase in the pressure of the air no doubt due to his Biotic powers. “Everyone needs something and when the need it they come to me. I am the Boss, the CEO, the Demon Wolf, if you’re feeling dramatic. Omega has no titled ruler but one rule. Don’t fuck with the Alpha.” If _that_ is this man’s version of normal Derek knows he doesn’t want to see dramatic. He feels himself readying an eye roll but tamps it down. Even if Deucalion couldn’t _see_ it his lackeys most certainly could and Derek doesn’t need the headache from dealing with them, he has the feeling the woman wants to impale him with a pipe. The twins are still glaring at him though one of them sneaks glances at Lydia every once in a while. “So, what is it you need?”

            “I looking for information.” At that Deucalion gives Derek a very unimpressed look. “I need to find a man named Alan Deaton. And a mercenary going by the name Archangel.” At least Stiles told him who else they were here for, although the identity of Archangel is still a mystery.

            “This I can help you with.” The Demon Wolf’s smile is unsettling. “Deaton…he’s currently running a clinic in the quarantine zone. He’s an interesting man. He helps anyone regardless of species, as such the local humans have taken to calling him ‘the Vet’. Careful with him though, the man’s an enigma.”

            “And Archangel?”

            “You and the half of Omega are looking for him. Tell me are you here to kill him too?”

            “I’m putting a team together and he could be useful.” Deucalion looks a bit attentive in Derek’s answer but the interest wanes in the next second.

            “There’s a Mercenary recruitment going down. He’s pissed off the Silver Moons, Eclipse and the Blood Pack. They want him dead so for now while they have him cornered they’re recruiting to make sure he ends up dead.”

            “Thanks,” Derek stands from his seat and Deucalion focuses his face toward Derek. It would be unnerving if Derek couldn’t feel the man’s Biotic power telling him his surroundings.

            “Remember Omega’s one rule Hale.”

/\/\/\/\

            Derek had decided that they would try to recruit Deaton first. Though the situation with Archangel seemed more pressing Stiles and Lydia had volunteered to stay behind and try to find another way to get to Archangel. Forgetting about Stiles earlier warning about letting Allison and Scott on the same squad had been forgotten until now.

            They were just staring at each other. No talking. Not a single syllable had been uttered beyond a giggle or a nervous/pleased laugh. Allison would look down and then back up with a small smile and Scott’s face would break out in a pleased grin and then he would just _look_  at here with a slightly different expression and she would giggle softly and tuck a loose lock of hair behind her ear and then…..

            “Hey what are you humans doing down here!” _Oh thank every god of every existence._ A turian mercenary yelled at Derek and his two…companions. “No one’s allowed in the quarantine zone. Even if humans and [Vorcha](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Vorcha) are immune, I don’t care.” Derek has his pistol in hand and aimed at the Turian’s head before he can blink.

            “I think I’m allowed.” The turian gulps and raises his hand to his head, he tilts his head and speaks.

            “I guess you’re allowed. We have a few humans heading your way.” Derek doesn’t miss Scott mumble and apology to the turian as they enter the quarantine zone.

/\/\/\/\

            Luckily the plague that was…well plaguing…this part of Omega didn’t effect humans so Derek, Scott and Allison were able to forego a breathing apparatus (which Derek preferred) however as they furthered into the slums Derek began to wish he needed one.

            “They’re burning the bodies.” Scott notes.

            “Classic plague behavior.” Allison comments. “By burning the bodies they hope to stop it from growing. “We should be on our guard.” Allison points to a silver, black and white insignia drawn on a wall. “We’re in Silver Sun territory. Even in a plague they’ll be more interested in keeping out other gangs.” Derek nods and takes point with his pistol ready. They make it a bit farther into the slums before they meet the Silver Sons. Two Bartarians stand with their backs to Derek and his squad. Derek gestures to Scott and Allison to take cover. Their steps are quick and silent. Derek takes cover behind a column on a wall while Scott and Allison move to the opposite. Derek looks to Allison with a nod toward the two mercenaries, Allison gives Derek a smirk that reminds him too much of Kate sending a chill through his blood. She grabs the hood resting on her shoulders and flips it over her head. With a small flash of light Allison’s body [disappears](http://gravity-did-it.tumblr.com/post/62770053382/still-awesome), a few arcs of electricity reveal her position but they too dissipate leaving seemingly empty air where Allison once stood. Allison makes no noise as she moves forward and since she is cloaked Derek waits without any idea where she is. Before he can count to ten though Allison appears behind on of the Bartarians, her omni-blade is outstretched glowing brightly orange as she stabs it forward into the mercenary’s skull. The first batarian falls limply as the blade slides out of his head. The other batarian had jumped back and raised his gun. From the corner of his eye Derek sees Scott break his cover but Allison is still his focus. Quickly she throws something at the gunman the small object is glowing white hot and flies toward his face. But just as impact is made it explodes in a bright white light blinding even Derek with a bright glare from twelve feet away. The Silver Sun staggers back blinded but Allison has her Omni-Bow out her arms is posed with an arrow and before Derek can blink the arrow is embedded in her target. He falls like a puppet with its strings cut.

            Derek can’t help but feel impressed but with a glance toward Scott…he can tell that the feeling isn’t _exactly_ shared. Stiles was right Scott did become easily distracted with Allison involved.

            “Nice work.” Derek acquiesces moving forward taking in the surrounding in case of an ambush.

            “We should be safe for n-” Allison cuts herself short when low and painful sounding groan enters the air. Derek raises his arm, blue biotic energy emanating from it in waves, toward where the sound came from. A batarian sits hunched over on a wall a few feet from their flank, he has blood spatters across his front, another victim of the plague. Derek decides to forego talking to the ailing alien, he’s had enough experience with Bartarians to know with their hatred of humans he won’t divulge any useful information without a (painful) motivation. He begins to pass the bartarian when he notices Scott make a particularly pitiful look at the alien. Derek rolls his eyes with a sigh and makes a nod toward alien. Scott’s face lights up and he rushes toward the bartarian, his omni-tool at the ready with medi-gel.

            “Kindness from a human?” The bartarian speaks, his voice is rough like most Bartarians but he wheezes in between words. “Laughable especially after you started this damn plague!” Scott applies the medi-gel quickly and expertly despite the bartarian’s outburst.

            “How do you know humans were the ones who made this plague?” Derek asks with just the right amount of arrogance that he knows the bartarian would jump to the bait.

            “Who else would do this?”

            “Aren’t the Vorcha also immune?” Allison tries to clarify.

            “The Vorcha? Make a plague?” The Bartarians laughs through a coughing fit.

            “Please sir do you know anything?” Scott asks. The Bartarian looks at Scott almost fondly.

            “The Vet.” He breathes out. “He knows something. Barricaded himself with mechs and ammo.”

            “Thank you.” Scott smiles with one last application of medi-gel. “When we reach the clinic we’ll send someone back for you.” Derek isn’t too pleased with Scott’s promise but it’ll just mean they’ll have to kill everything in their way so whoever heads back will have a better chance.

            “Let’s get a move on!” Derek orders while checking his number of thermal clips.

/\/\/\/\

            They reach the clinic with no major injuries. There had been a pretty severe fire fight between the Silver Suns and the Blood Pack, a rival gang made up a few[ Krogans](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Krogan) and Vorcha. The Silver Suns was filled with Bartarians and humans so they posed no specialized threat whereas the Blood Pack did. Derek remembers fighting Krogans…they aren’t particularly pleasant memories. Krogans were the power houses of the Galaxy. Though at one point Derek had felt pity for the infertility that was forced on them for their Rebellion in the galaxy but after fighting one it became blatantly obvious why it was thought necessary. The Vorcha were another problem. Their adaptive cellular regeneration made any encounter into a long one if they weren’t killed within the first minute or two of being wounded. But they got through it. Derek and Scott used their Biotics to keep the krogans away from Allison while she used incendiary ammo to take out the vorcha.

            “So this is the clinic?” Allison asks, Derek can hear a tone of incredulity. The clinic is not exactly what Derek would have expected from someone who has the skills to help combat someone as technologically advanced as the Collectors. It’s kind of a dump…but to be expected as a part of the slums of Omega. The high end Mechs however stick out like a sore thumb.

            “Well, let’s go find him.” The clinic is filled with chaos. Coughing and groans of pain and pleas for help fill the air. So many people are sick and dying that clinic is so overrun the healthier patients are helping take care of the sicker ones.

            “No, that won’t do.” The one calm voice within the chaos makes its way to Derek’s ear as they pass another room. “Asari physiology will not work with that chemical use Denthyl-blue along with saline.”

            “Dr. Deaton?” Derek questions the man looks from a screen of what Derek assumes is test results but looks down after taking in Derek and his squads appearance.

            “You walk in here with an obvious purpose, yet you don’t have any equipment for studying this plague.” The man looks at them once again and continues in a calm almost monotone voice. You’re well-armed but not dressed in uniform so you’re not a part of a mercenary group.”

            “We are here for you, Dr. Deaton.” Derek answers as politely as possible but the doctors calm demeanor is actually grating on his nerves. “We need your help against a powerful threat with advanced tech.” The doctor studies Derek a bit more and smiles, though Derek senses no real warmth from it.

            “It would seem our goals are quite similar at the moment. This plague was created by the collectors and I’m assuming that that’s who you allude to.” Derek bites back a bewildered comment but Scott does not.

            “That’s amazing.”

            “How do you know this plague was Collector made?” Derek asks not wanting to be without at least some info on the doctor’s abilities.

            “Let’s just say that this plague reeks of them.” Deaton gives one last enigmatic smile before he turns and reaches for a set of vials behind him. “This is a newly synthesized cure for this plague. If it can be introduced into the quadrants main ventilation system we can stop the plague. I would have done it myself but my presence here is needed to keep the mercenary groups at bay.” He hands the vials to Derek and Derek acknowledges his mission with a nod. “When this plague is gone I will join Cerberus for the time needed to defeat them and find out why they are abducting human colonies.” Deaton returns to his work and the three follow a schematic to the main vents but while moving Derek goes over their conversation and realizes he never told Deaton who he worked for or what exactly their mission was.

/\/\/\

            Allison sends another arrow into the head of a Vorcha while they retreat into the control room for the ventilation system. Another vorcha runs forward but Scott sends it flying with a Biotic throw. They already have the cure in place within the vents they need to turn the fans on in order to spread it to the quarantine zone.

            “Allison!” Derek yells over a vorcha who found a flame thrower. Allison turns toward him and shoots at the gas tank of the machine. It explodes and sends a shower of flames hitting those behind it. With the explosion the enemy is off balance so he and Scott take advantage. “Allison turn on the fans Scott and I will keep them busy.” She nods and runs toward the control console. Derek takes position by the doorway with Scott and they both let loose their Biotic powers decimating those who dared get too close.

/\/\/\/\

On the Beacon Deaton examines his new laboratory, he seems to be glad at the state of the art tools but his mouth gives a light curve downward but he doesn’t mention anything.

            “Thank you Derek.” Derek raises his eyebrows, confused at the doctor’s words.

            “For what, Doctor?” He never answers. Instead he hands Derek a bag. The bag has a slight weight from its contents.

            “I destroyed the cameras and bugs within the lab, but I thought Ms. Matrin and Mr. Stilinski would like the more expensive ones back.” With that Deaton turns to a monitor clearly telling Derek the time to chat is over. Derek leaves but as he walks through the hallway he sees Stiles tapping a tablet.

            “Here.” Derek thrust the bag at Stiles. “Deaton wanted you to have the more expensive ones back.” He can’t keep all the acid out of his voice but he feels. Betrayed? No, can’t be he expected something like this from Lydia but from Stiles?

            “I was wondering what happened to those.” Stiles admittance though nonchalant, has Derek gritting his teeth. He walks past Stiles with a shoulder check making the younger man drop the tablet and bag with a satisfying sound as they hit the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Regarding Kali’s foot claws. I wrote that part and then decided to indulge a bad habit (spending money I shouldn’t) and bought Injustice. Anyway Catwoman’s in game costume is incredibly similar to the Mass Effect outfit used and with the alterations I added to Kali-fy it, it was a really interesting amount of serendipity.  
> Also one of the reasons I began writing this AU was because I wanted to write action scenes however they take most of my (limited) time to write so I am cutting back on those so I can update on a more regular (and faster) basis.


	5. Archangel is....Fabulous?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On their quest to recruit Archangel, Derek and his crew must work with a few gangs out for Archangel’s blood. But can they get to him before the gangs do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well the semester is coming to a close soon so that means I be able to write! Until classes start again. But by then the new season of Teen Wolf will be on the Horizon.

Derek is suiting up for his next trip onto Omega when Stiles stops him.

            “So….”Stiles says with a small hint of apprehension in his voice that is quickly swallowed by an air of _‘I know what I’m talking about’_. “I think you need to take Chris with you.”

            “What?” Derek glares at Stiles using just enough murder in his glare to get Stiles to explain.

            “For the record I know what you’re doing.” Derek’s glare remains steadfast. “With the glare, I read about it in your file.” Stiles tries to stare back but Derek’s more formidable glower wins out. “Okay, _fine_ , Chris has ties to one of the gangs, his connections could be helpful in getting you on the job.” Though he won’t admit it, Derek realizes that it would be helpful, of course since the Argent is no longer a member his involvement could be just as disastrous.

            “And if Argent left because of infighting?”

            “Just trust me on this, okay?” Derek can’t help but snort at that. He had already swept his quarters looking for bugs and though he hadn’t found any just yet he wasn’t going to put it past Cerberus after he had seen all the bugs in Deaton’s lab.

            “You don’t trust me and I don’t trust you.” Derek has finished the last buckles on his armor and is leaving when he hears one last comment from Stiles that makes him turn around.

            “Maybe I should have let Lydia put that stupid control chip in.” It’s muttered and quiet, spoken in aside but it reaches Derek’s ears. He has Stiles up against the nearest wall in a flat second, the metal wall lets out a dull sound as Stiles back slams against it. “This again?” Stiles voice’s his question in a combination of indignation and almost…fondness? “If you insist on doing this I insist on dinner and wine first.” Derek ignores his comment for what he really wants to know.

            “What Control Chip?” Derek’s voice has gone low and the edge of promised violence shakes Stiles just enough. It’s almost as if Derek can smell the fear and nerves coming off of him. Despite the fear Derek can so easily see Stiles doesn’t cower.

            “It’s like it sounds.” Stiles answers and Derek’s grip loosens a bit when he hears a tone of shame in Stiles voice. “We couldn’t be sure you would have agreed to help us or stay loyal to the cause...it was insurance. But Peter was adamant that nothing about your personality or mental state change. And though I hate to agree with Peter, I.... agreed with Peter. It’s what got me assistant status.” Derek wasn’t sure what to say, though it did reinforce his notion to stay away from Lydia.

            “Fine.” Derek lets out the words though he is intent on making sure that his reluctance is well-known. “He and Scott will come with me.” Stiles smiles, pleased but Derek does have one last question before he lets him off the hook. “Why did you bug Deaton’s lab anyway.”

            “He’s using our equipment. We have to make sure he’s using it properly...you know not using it to make drugs.” Stiles tries to lie but it fails him spectacularly. When he sees that Derek isn’t swayed he opens his mouth and tries for incredulous. “What I had a chemistry teacher who did that!” Derek merely raises one eyebrow and Stiles folds. “He may not look like it but Deaton is an incredible scientist and if we can learn some trade secrets by looking over his shoulder well...” Stiles shrugs as if espionage is a normal thing...well considering who he works for it probably is. “And between you and me, I’m not really sure about him. I mean have you met the man? He’s like an enigma wrapped in blanket of shadow decorated with question marks.”

/\/\/\/\

            As it turns out they didn’t need Chris’ connections, **at all**. The recruiter merely took one look at their armor, then their weapons then signed them up. The hunt for Archangel was on and they were a part of it.

            “So….” Scott begins looking toward the boulevard where all the shooting is coming from. “It sounds like they’re making some progress.” Chris makes an unimpressed sound.

            “From what I can tell they have Archangel cornered into one of the buildings across the boulevard.” Chris walks a few steps looking over the carnage, he quickly moves out of the way when a stray bullet flies toward him. “There’s one very exposed bridge to get to where Archangel is so everyone is bottlenecked. I’d be willing to bet their sending the hires as a distraction team while they have a team coming in from behind.” The plan made sense to Derek.

            “Sounds like suicide.” Scott comments.

            “It is.” Derek agrees. “But Archangel has been hindering business on Omega, for these guys it’s almost at a standstill. Sacrificing a few hire-ons isn’t going to bother them.” Derek surveys bridge; making sure his shields are up when a Stiles voice comes through his omni-tool.

            “ _You guys are going to have two jobs here.”_ Chris rolls his eyes already realizing where the conversation is going. “ _Getting to Archangel and getting him out_.” Scott’s makes a small noise of enlightenment but Derek suppresses the urge to follow Argent’s lead. “ _So I suggest sabotage._ _Stiles out.”_ Sabotage? It would be useful.

\/\/\/\/

            “Hey, no hirelings allowed in here!” A Bartarian in silver and black armor yells in Derek face the second he walks into the hanger. The armor’s insignia marks him as a member of the Silver Suns. He raises his pistol and aims it at Derek. Derek’s raises his arms showing empty hands (though being a biotic the gesture doesn’t mean much). The Bartarian isn’t having any of it. “I said get out.” The Bartarian had been making repairs to a [gunship](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/A-61_Mantis_Gunship), when he heard them coming. At first he had thought that Derek was one of his lackeys trying to speed the repairs the Bartarian had been almost polite, setting down his electric welder and calling Derek a cloaca only twice, but then he pulled up his welder’s mask and realized his error.

            “Tarak.” Argent yells from behind Derek. “Shut up.” The Bartarian goes still and then his anger just seems to deflate.

            “Chris!” It’s not exactly a jovial greeting but the pistol is no longer aimed at them. “So you’re still in the game?” The Bartarian, Tarak, turns to review his work.

            “I am indeed.” Chris walks behind to the side of the Bartarian and with one look Derek noticed how the electric welder was missing from the table Tarak had placed it on.

            “No hard feelings, right?” Chris smiles.

            “What’s in the past is in the past.” Tarak looks back to the gunship but an alarm going off forces his attention to the entrance. A Silver Sun runs up to the doorway and yells to them that the attack is starting. Tarak shouts that he will be finished with the repairs in three minutes. He never gets the chance. The second that Tarak turns Chris has the electric welder shoved into the alien’s back. Tarak convulses as the electricity pulses through him. It is in that moment that Derek can see the familial resemblance between Chris and Kate Argent.

/\/\/\/\

            They move quickly so no one will see what they had done to Tarak. Luckily they had finished the rest of their sabotage before then. Derek led Scott and Chris toward the bridge.

            “We need to help Archangel out but we also need to keep ourselves from being killed by our _comrades_ or by Archangel.” Scott announces as bullets fly by. Derek studies the bridge for a few seconds and announces quietly to his squad.

            “Once we reach about half-way show Archangel we’re on his side.” Scott gives a nod while Chris loads his assault rifle, an [M-8 Avenger](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Avenger). It was an older model, effective against armor, shields and biotic barriers, which made is a popular model among military and mercenaries, the way Chris held it, it was obvious that it was in capable hands. But the reverent strokes his hands made and the ways his eyes lingered on the engraved name “ _Victoria_ ” told Derek that there was more to the gun and the man holding it….He wasn’t sure he liked that epiphany. Derek met the mercenary’s eyes and a small nod from the man signaled he was ready. “Let’s move.”

            The Bridge was bare. The smallest of cover could be found a few yards from the start but it became quickly irrelevant when they needed to be farther in. From the balcony the tip of a sniper rifle could be seen over it a shot rings out and a mercenary behind Derek falls from a bullet to the head. He can’t help but be impressed…And perhaps they may need to show him they’re allies sooner rather than later. Derek lets a few mercenaries run in front of them before unleashing a shockwave into them. Their bodies fly into the air fall into the ground.

            “Cover me!” Derek yells. In the chaos he advances through the mercenaries. His pistol is at the ready and those who haven’t figured out his true alliance yet are quickly removed from being a threat. Scott and Argent run after him, Scott letting off a Biotic throw sending the other mercenaries off of their feet and Chris throws frag grenade waiting as they try to stand. In their wake Derek can briefly hear a man yell “ _They’re with Archangel!”_ Chris leaves a few proximity mines in their wake to prevent a quick recovery. They make it to the other side of the bridge only a handful of mercenaries were able to make it across before them but Scott uses a Biotic Pull to pull them off their feet and away from the stairs leading to Archangel’s balcony. Derek runs forward where the bodies have clumped together from Scott’s pull. With a jump Derek raises his fist his body glows, brightly lit with blue biotic energy, as he comes down he slams his fist into the ground. A wave of biotic energy is forced outward in a large circular Nova that detonates the mass effect fields Scott had placed around the mercenaries. They explode in a bright burst of blue. Their bodies fly across the room crumpled. Derek signals for Chris to take lead as Derek’s shields have depleted from the Nova.

            Arriving at the entrance to the balcony a lone engineer opens the doors, Chris has his gun at the ready the engineer turns on them just as the doors open but before anyone can fire a BANG fills the air and the engineer falls to the floor. The doors open completely to show Archangel standing next to his sniper rifle, his pistol is raised showing exactly who dropped the engineer.

            “Took you guys long enough.” Archangel makes nod toward the room, gesturing for the squad to join him.

            “So you’re Archangel, Isaac?”  Isaac smiles. He’s about to speak when one of Chris’ proximity mines detonates. Isaac hasn’t changed much in the two years Derek has been “ _dead”._ His blonde hair is still curly and if anything a bit shorter than when Isaac helped Derek track Saren. Though his clothes are certainly different. Before Isaac wore a hand-me-down armor that once belonged to his brother Camden, though military grade it was obvious to Derek that Isaac didn’t quite fit into his brother’s boots. And before that when they were both at Grissom Academy where Isaac had been shy and reclusive he at least fit better into the uniform. But the Isaac before him had a confidence that Derek had seen very little of before. He had a red and black over [coat](http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/0/5911/2087531-alternate_appearance_05_o.jpg), over a black chest piece that conformed to his frame and a red tinted optic visor (most likely it had a targeting system contained within).

            When the explosions die down Isaac scopes out the regrouping gangs. “It looks like we have some time before their ready for another assault.” He pulls off his visor and takes in Argent and Scott’s attendance. “So, I’m guessing this is more than just a rescue.”

            “It’s a recruitment.” Scott answers with a bit more cheer than expected. Derek feels his own eyebrows come together as he looks at Scott. When Scott notices the look he shrugs and Derek turns back to Isaac.

            “What’s with the Archangel persona.” (That was supposed to be a question.)

            “Something the locals came up with.” Isaac gives an amused smirk but there’s an obvious glint of appreciation and pride in his eyes. But it disappears when Isaac realizes he is talking to a ghost. “How is it that’s you’re alive?”

            “Cerberus.” It was the simple answer. But Isaac knows of Derek’s past with Cerberus so he doesn’t push for details. “I’m recruiting a team to deal with Collectors.” Isaac’s eyes go wide at Derek’s declaration.

            “That’s where Deaton went?”

            “He’s on the Beacon.”

            “A new Beacon?”

            “You won’t have to sleep on the floor.” Isaac looks toward the square, he watches as an YMIR Mech begins destroying the troops around it, a gift from Derek to them.

            “I’m gonna hold you to that. But first we need a way out.” Isaac takes his sniper rifle, and takes aim through the scope. A second later he pulls the trigger and the head of the YMIR Mech is hot off, the YMIR Mech falls and explodes destroying all around it. “Alright let’s get out of here.” But before the can relax and explosion and the sound of wrenching metal fills the air and makes the floor shake.

            “Downstairs!” Derek yells. “They must have broken through.” Derek turns to Isaac to order him to ready his biotic powers but Isaac has already beaten him to the punch. Three blue biotic spheres orbit around Isaac. During their days at Grissom Academy that was the one Biotic power Derek could never master. The three orbs sped up the cool down periods between power usages, so Isaac could use his powers almost instantly after the previous, it made him an asset on the battle field countless times. Rushing down the stairs Derek shoots at the enemies that Chris or Scott hadn’t picked off yet.

It was going well with Isaac providing a taking out enemies as they entered the room…until the [Krogan](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Krogan) arrived. The Krogans were at one point the strongest military force the galaxy had ever seen, even being uplifted from their planet to defend Citadel Space from the [Rachni](http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Rachni). After the Rachni wars they themselves became a threat to the galaxy and through these of the genophage became a dying species. Now, though they may be going extinct, they are still one of the most formidable species there is.

            “Take out the Krogan!”

            Chris is the first to respond. He has is assault rifle aimed at the Krogan and he lets his bullets fly. Most of the bullets bounce off though they are damaging his armor it isn’t enough to stop his charge. The Krogan rams through pushing Chris to the side, the veteran mercenary retreats easily however.

            “Isaac!” Derek signals Isaac with a wave of his hand while biotic light overs it. Isaac gives a brief nod of understanding and releases on of his biotic spheres. It flies through the air and slams into the Krogan’s chest. The mass effect field surrounds the Krogan. Derek’s body glows bright blue and as he charges toward the Krogan, as he makes contact the mass effect fields detonate destroying the rest of the Krogan’s armor. Derek reaches behind him and reaches for the shotgun he got off of the Beacon’s armory. He lets shot after shot go from point blank range into the Krogan’s face.

/\/\/\/\

            Isaac whistles, impressed.

            “So this is the new Beacon.” He nods approvingly as Derek shows him to his room. “Cerberus may be terrorists but they now how to make a ship.” Derek nods and hums in agreement.

            “Uh, you should see the mess hall.” Derek tries to subtly guide Isaac toward where Stiles is. He needs someone else to see what Stiles is wearing. No one has seemed to react to the way that Derek has reacted…No! That’s not what he means. He means that no one else has seemed to find the way that Stiles is dressed peculiar. Everyone is entitled to wear tight clothes. But he not sure why Stiles has to wear them and why no one notices them.

            When they reach the mess hall Derek introduces Isaac to the rest of the crew, Lydia, Allison and Stiles. But Isaac doesn’t react in any way toward Stiles at all. Is he going crazy? Minutes pass and Isaac has integrated himself with the crew he’s talking with Scott and Allison when Stiles detaches himself from the conversation and joins Derek where he is standing against the wall.

            “So he was on your old crew, right?”

            “Why are you asking? You already know he was.” Stiles looks a bit taken aback but he barrels on.

            “Yeah, I know he was, but I was just making conversation.” Stiles sits back and sighs. Derek sighs exaggeratedly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Though Deaton takes Mordin’s place in this AU, Deaton will not be joining the others on the battlefield. Mostly because Deaton’s bad-assery comes from his mysteriousness.   
> In case you didn’t get it, a lot of the info. Considering Isaac’s dress was metaphor for how he’s grown over the years.  
> An Engineer is a class in Mass Effect. One can have their Shep play as one or they can fight a few during the course of the game. You will see an Engineer on Derek’s side later.  
> So I made the parallel between Garrus and Isaac, and mostly because when I think of Garrus I think of loyalty and out of Derek’s Betas I think Isaac was the most loyal. I mean he returned to Derek even after Derek white fanged him.  
> If you want to any more info about why I chose what or if you just want to say high contact me on my tumblr.  
> The chapter of this title is just a small joke on fabulous Daniel Sharman looks in a scarf.


	6. Past meets Present

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek begins to get used to life on the Beacon once more, but they still have one more person to recruit. A face from Derek’s past that he thought was long gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this took forever to write but I got a job and RL continues to kick my ass, but the semester is coming to a close so despite all the finals that I need to be studying for, I will have more time to write soon.

            Derek watches as Isaac tests a few of the weapons on the Beacon. Isaac seemed to take to life on the Beacon easily and Derek can’t help but notice that he himself had as well. The days were easy to move through despite the threat over the galaxy. Of course considering before Derek awoke in the Cerberus facility he was living his life much like this it was actually more of a return to normalcy. Isaac and Scott had struck up a bond quickly, Isaac had gone to the Beacon’s armory, which Scott was in charge of, from what Derek heard from Stiles they bonded over both being Alliance brats. Allison even took to Isaac. It was nice for Derek to see Isaac so well adjusted. Back during their days at Grissom Academy Isaac was quiet and reserved only a few people besides Derek were friends with him. And during Derek’s mission to stop Saren, Isaac always acted as though there was something for him to prove, now Derek couldn’t help but feel a bit proud of Isaac. Derek turns away from watching Isaac and Scott trade weapons between each other. Isaac had been spending more and more time in the Armory with Scott.

            “What’s up Derek?” Stiles walks in through the doors it whooshes closed behind him. Derek notices the look Stiles face takes on when he sees Isaac and Scott. It was a cross between amusement, expectancy, and maybe jealousy.

            “Isaac’s looking for a new sniper rifle.” Stiles sighs and hands Derek a datapad.

            “I have the report on our next recruit.” Derek doesn’t bother reading it knowing that Stiles will give him the rundown anyway. He doesn’t worry about Stiles skipping any information, if anything he may get more information than needed. “So our recruit is pretty well known around the Cerberus info-drones. She’s a terrorist that has destroyed several Cerberus bases and is wanted on a few planets.” That was new. Derek doesn’t mind that “ _Subject Zero”_ has destroyed Cerberus Bases, after all that was Derek’s pastime for a little while as well. But the being wanted on several planets has him intrigued and worried.

            “Won’t it be unsafe for our crew and our mission to have a wanted criminal aboard?”

            “Cerberus has offered to pay off her bounty.” Derek looks to the datapad to see this bounty….that is almost 4 million credits. Derek looks to Stiles for confirmation but Stiles expression tells Derek that something else is bothering Stiles. “Stiles is something wrong?” Derek can’t help it but his voice has gone soft and concerned and Stiles looks up having taken notice. He looks to Scott and Isaac who have barely taken notice of them, he then motions his head toward the door. Stiles leaves and Derek waits a few seconds before following (and not just because it gives him a good view). Stiles leads them to a small closet and pulls Derek in with him. To claim it snug would be an understatement and for few seconds Derek is overwhelmed by the smell of Stiles in the small space (he’s always had an acute sense of smell but ever since his reconstruction it has felt, to him, stronger). Derek’s face goes hot and his blood rushes south as Stiles rubs his hands across Derek’s crotch.

            “Stiles-” Derek tries to get Stiles to press harder? Speed up? Stop? He’s not sure but Stiles pulls his arm upward before Derek can finish the thought. Stiles omnitool glows a bright orange illuminating his brown eyes to a liquid gold that Derek can’t help but stare at. After making a few presses to his omnitool Stiles looks up and meets Derek’s eyes with a small gasp as if just registering their proximity. Stiles licks his lips.

            “I uh needed to speak with you in private.”

            “We’re in private Stiles.” Stiles swallows at Derek’s words. They’re so close now Derek can feel Stiles breath on his mouth.

            “Yes, I uh needed to uh, make sure no one was listening especially anyone who could send word to the Illusive Man.” At the mention of the Illusive Man, or more accurately at the mention of Derek’s uncle, they both tried to part as far as the small closest would let them, which wasn’t much. “I found something odd with the recruitment of Subject Zero. When Lydia and I first started working for Cerberus I made it a point to look through all their history and though I remember a mention of a Subject Zero it is nothing definitive. Some of Cerberus policies may have changed with the new Illusive Man but…” Stiles meets Derek’s eyes once more and Derek can’t help but believe him. “There is a lot that Cerberus does that I don’t agree with Derek. But I know a lot of good can also be done with their resources.” Stiles stops abruptly, realizing he’s getting off topic. “Before Peter, Cerberus placed a bounty on Subject Zero themselves, and though the date of the bounty was close to the date of Subject Zero’s first strike against one of our bases it was placed before she attacked it.”

            “So you think that this “recruitment” is actually a ruse to capture Subject Zero rather than an actual recruitment for allies.”

            “Actually I think it’s both. When Peter became the Illusive Man he went through most of Cerberus bounties and this is one of the few that he canceled. He may be switching up tactics or most likely he knows something we don’t but while she is on this ship as a part of the crew Peter won’t be able to touch her without us knowing, however after the mission and assuming survival…I don’t know.” With that Stiles told Derek of the place they would recruit Subject Zero, she was being held in a Turian prison ship called _Purgatory._ Apparently the captain captures wanted criminals and then sells them to the planets that wanted them. It actually secured him a nice profit.

After going over the specs of the mission Stiles moves his hand trying to find the release for the door behind Derek. His body pressed up against Derek’s. After one “ _accidental”_ groping of Derek’s ass Stiles found the release and the door whooshed open. Stiles exits the closet only to be greeted by a wide-eyed Lydia and Allison. Lydia’s eyes take in Stiles slightly reddened cheeks and then dart past his shoulder to see Derek in a similar state.

“I guess, I now know why you wanted to have camera-less closets.”

“No! I was just-” Stiles tries to defend.

“Or were you just trying to inspect his body? We have a perfectly good med lab for that Stiles. Although I suppose it doesn’t have quite the same… _privacy._ ” With a one last smirk and a smothered chuckle from Allison the two girls leave. Stiles gives one last look to Derek and leaves with a redder blush.

 

/\/\/\/\

 

Purgatory is much like how Derek had imagined it. On the outside it looked much like any other space station, though perhaps a bit better defended. The inside was filled with prisoners; many of them held in glass walled cells with a small cot and latrine other more dangerous criminals like Subject Zero were apparently being held in a cryo sleep, which is what brought Derek, Isaac and Lydia farther into the prison. The Warden, a Turian named Kuril, had tried to take their weapons but with no luck, something Derek was glad for, being surrounded by so many criminals, some names he recognized the Alliance’s own ‘Wanted’ list, put him on edge.

“Your prisoner will be in the room at the end of this hall.” The Warden’s voice sounded over the radio.

“I don’t trust him.” Derek’s airs his opinion, his skin feels tight.

“He sells criminals to the highest bidder and if planet governments try to retrieve a criminal without paying he leaves said criminal on the planet with a pistol and 5000 credits. Trusting him would be a bad idea.” Lydia’s rendition of the Warden’s character is though accurate said with an unimpressed tone. As they continue down the hall a cell with an awake prisoner nears. There are two guards in the cell, one holds a gun while the other beats the prisoner mercilessly. “Well, isn’t that a site?” Briefly Derek thinks about stopping the guards but before he can consider the option Isaac points to the room they are to be waiting for Subject Zero.

“Let’s get this over with.” They enter the room and move toward the back where a holding cell is supposed to be located. Derek scans the room and moves his hand to his pistol, the room is devoid of anyone besides him and his squad. There should at least be guards posted to make sure Subject Zero doesn’t escape. Unless….

“Sorry Commander Hale.” Kuril’s voice is loud, arrogant and cordial over the intercom. “But your worth too much to leave here without a price tag.” The transmission cuts off as the holding cell opens to reveal a squad of five LOKI Mechs. Derek has his pistol raised and his finger ready to pull the trigger when the Mechs freeze. The lead Mech explodes, the explosion forces the other mechs to collide into the wall. With the mechs out of commission the three turn toward their exit, the door begins to close but Isaac’s sniper rifle is aimed and with a squeeze of the trigger a bullet is sent speeding toward the door. It impacts the electric lock as it begins to engage, disrupting it and opening the door.

“Move!” Derek orders. They near their exit and take a hallway leading them down an unkown path. Luckily with the glass cells of the prison Derek can see heavily secure door and the waves of men leading up to it. “Lydia, do you see the door.”

“Yes, commander,” Lydia answers and catches on to Derek’s thoughts. “I’ll have it open before we reach it.” Lydia’s voice cuts off as she begins preparations her eyes and spare hand on her omni-tool, hacking into the station’s system.

“Good.” Derek pulls back his arm and unleashes a shockwave through the crowding hallway. The men are thrown to the sides of the walls as the three run forward. The door opens a few yards in front of them just as more guards flood the hallway behind them. “Lydia, have it closed in, 3, 2, 1.” Derek and Lydia make it through the door with Isaac on their tail, Isaac turns around quickly and releases a biotic push out the door. The blue wave of light travels knocking into the guards trhat dared get too close. The door shuts and the lock engages.

“Any idea where we are?” Isaac asks. He looks toward Lydia who merely walks over to a computer stationed by a window.

“By the looks of it, I would say that we are in the control room for a highly dangerous criminal who is currently in cryo-stasis.” Derek looks out the window to see a large silver-grey cryo-container, it has various tubes and locks on it, but the most obvious feature would be the three ATLAS Mechs stationed around the container, each with it’s gun and rocket launcher arms locked on it. Lydia fiddles with her omni-tool once more before announcing. “I alerted the Beacon when the Warden turned on us and had Greenburg release a virus to the station, they won’t be able to get into the Beacon.” Lydia’s recap is said with an air of bordem but she than purses her lips in distaste. “It would seem that Greenburg’s virus has gone awry, it has released every prisoner on this station, except for one. I’ll give you one guess who.”

“Subject Zero.” Derek answers.

“How astute of you, luckily we have seemed to have found our way into their control room. We can release her from here.” Lydia approaches the console and works quickly freeing subject Zero. “Unfortunately I cannot shutdown the ATLAS Mechs from here so as soon as she’s out we need to hurry.” She presses one last button and the tubes attached to the cryo-chamber are released with a hiss, white mist spraying haphazardly from them. The chamber opens and the ATLAS Mechs all move to attention.

“The door Lydia.” Derek commands, He can’t see her eye-roll but he knows it was there. The Mechs prepare their guns as the door to the chamber falls open. Subject Zero stumbles forward trying to get too her feet. She short and covered in tattoos, Derek can’t help but notice as all she is wearing are a pair of orange pants and a belt (or possibly some kind of strap) wrapped around her breasts covering as little needed to be considered PG-13. Derek gives her a once over looking for emaciation or any wounds that they may have to deal with when he notices it. On her abdomen a few inches above her nazvel a triskele is inked into her skin. The triskele, the same shape as the one that sits between Derek’s shoulder blades, the same style that Laura had branded on left shoulder, the same Triskele that their mother had tattooed onto her right hand. Subject Zero looks up briefly toward the viewing window and Derek knows exactly who she is. “Cora.” It’s barely more than a whisper but Derek might have well just screamed it for all the emotion that wars into that one word, that one name. Cora’s eyes dart to the Mechs around her she rears back her arms and screams. Derek tears his eyes away from the scene, not wanting to in fear that if he does she’ll disappear. Lydia is still at the door but Derek pushes her out of the way. “Move.” If Lydia protested he doesn’t hear it. His body bathes in blue as he concentrates his power on the door.

“Derek!” Lydia yells. “That isn’t going to work. Just let me open it.”

“I am not waiting one more goddamn second. I am getting my sister!” Derek’s eyes flash blue as the door begins to give to his powers. Lydia watches him, scientific curiosity piqued.  One final push from Derek and a wave of blue light pushes and the door and wall both fly forward. Derek pants briefly before he has his pistol out and moves forward.

The room is a mess, there are scorch marks and holes from rockets but it’s the mechs who are the victims of the carnage, all have been destroyed, though some more than others. Following the wreckage they discover a whole in the wall similar to the one Derek had just created.

“I see the family resemblance.” Derek shoots a glare at Isaac. “So I guess we’re not talking about it.”

“Oh, no we are definitely talking about it. Among other things such as if Subject Zero will actually be an asset to us or whether the Illusive Man set this up to save his niece under false pretenses.” Isaac simply points to the wall.

“I think she’ll have her uses.”

Once they step through the whole the irony that all hell has broken loose on Purgatory is not lost on them. “The prisoners fighting the guards should be enough of a distraction. For us to go without too much attention, only shoot those that get in our way.” They move on. Progress through the station is only slowed by the guards or prisoners that have survived encounters with the other but their numbers have dwindled to the point that groups of only a handful of enemies stand in their way. With Isaac’s sniper rifle they are able to pick off enemies before they are close and with Lydia’s tech skill most of the mechs are destroyed before they can even attack.

“Look!” Isaac yells pointing to a bridge on the level above them. Cora is running on it and two guards stand in her way, they raise their guns but Cora’s hand glow blue as she sends a blast of Biotic energy toward the ground sending her flying through the air with a flip she lands behind the guards her body bathed in blue light, Derek can tell what she’s doing before it happens. Cora lets off charging forward with a burst of light the two guards are blown backward by the shock of the blast. Seeing her, Derek in the back of his mind beyond the fear and worry for his sister is impressed and proud. Cora’s charge leads her to a growing squad of guards lead by the Warden Kuril.

“Hurry we need to get to her!” Derek yells. They rush across the prison nearing a ladder to lead them to the upper level. As they arrive they are greeted with gunfire. “Dammit!” Derek throws his arms forward sending forth the small light of energy it connects with one of the guards and Derek reals his arm back and gives a vicious throw lashing the man into another. Lydia...runs forward through the men they continue shooting at the new unguarded target only for their fire to go through Lydia and shoot each other. Derek can’t help his surprise he looks over at Isaac to see if they are both seeing this when he is met with a smug look from Lydia at his shoulder.

“DECOY.” Lydia answers hi un-asked question. “Dense Electric Copy Of Yourself.” Stiles made it and _named_ it.” Derek can hear a slight sneer in her voice but the look on her face is one of pride. In a way he can see why she would share pride for something Stiles made. Stiles is the master marker of Lydia’s genes (though refined in her) anything he makes is something she can do as well. Derek, Isaac and Lydia make it where they had spotted Cora but she has already left and destruction in her wake. Kuril is on the ground crawling for a gun almost within grasping range from him. Derek is about to rush forward when Lydia grabs onto his shoulder she shared a look with him and Isaac. She waits until Kuril’s fingers are just touching the handle, with a flick of her wrist a blue burst of light sends the gun skittering across the bloody and body spattered floor. The cry that Kuril releases into the air is broken, sad, desperate, hopeless.

“You had my sister locked in here, I can see why you had her under such lock and key, look at them mess she made of your prison.” Derek speaks as he approaches the injured warden. Derek flipped him over with his boot so the warden can look at him. Kuril looks at Derek with a long look of hate and then lets out a sick smile.

“I’d have let the men have her if it wouldn’t have damaged the merchandise.” Derek sees red, as his eyes bleed the color. Kuril looks into his eyes and knows his death is imminent. Derek’s fist glows brightly but he opens his fist on a whim and glass like talons form from the biotic energy surrounding his hand. He crouches and before anyone can make a move his hand is around Kuril’s throat the talons digging into the turian’s neck Derek than pulls, ripping the warden’s throat out.

/\/\/\/\

They move to the docking bay, having received a message from Greenburg that massive Biotic energy signatures could be detected.

“Cerberus!” Cora yell can be heard echoing down the hallway spurning Derek to run. “Bastards!” Cora throws her arms down in anger. She hears them and raises her arm toward the entry way it glows blue signaling she is primed for any violence she sees fit. But her aura stops briefly as Derek enters her line of sight. She recognizes him but she isn’t sure she knows him. Not anymore at least. Not with that armor and the Cerberus logo on the bitch next him.

“Cora!” He yells and she puts her arm down.

“The fuck do you want?” Derek is surprised by that. Of course she would cuss now. She’s in her twenties now, she’s not the little girl that would make her teacups float in the air in order to play space tea party. He can’t help but realize that he is looking at a stranger.

“Do you recognize me?” Derek asks he tries not to let the hurt and fear into his voice but he knows it bleeds through.

“You’re a Cerberus dog. Anything else I should now.”

“Cora, I just want to get you out of here.” Derek takes a step forward and s small biotic blast, much like the ones Laura would use on him (the likeness between the two almost makes him misty eyed) sends him backward.

“I’m not going anywhere with Cerberus.” He wants to badly yell at her that she is his family that he would do this for her anytime. But he sees a chance to learn something.

“Why does that matter?”

“They have been on my ass for years.” The force of hate behind her glare is heated.

“She has destroyed Cerberus bases and killed Cerberus people all over the galaxy.” Lydia speaks up as if the line of discussion is offensive to her.

“You die first.” If looks could kill Lydia would be dead ten times over.

“So...” Isaac speaks up distracting them. Derek looks to Isaac and notices the pale blush across his cheeks and how he tries desperately not too look at his Cora’s chest. “Are we not going to mention that you’re her brother?” Cora looks to Derek and she seems to really take him in this time.

“Derek?” Her voice is so small, almost fragile. “It can’t be.” He looks to her and nods.

She runs to him faster than either of them thought possible. Her arms are around his neck and their hugging tightly. Cora doesn’t cry, she doesn’t do that anymore, she stopped years ago but Derek, Derek’s tears fall gently.

\/\/\/\/

“Derek. Cerberus our home, our colony, how can you be working for them?” Cora yells at him, her voice dully echoes off of the wall of the central meeting room within the Beacon.

“Cora, there are things you don’t know.” Derek tries to begin but he stops, not sure if he means that he helped Kate Argent get into their colony or if he meant that Peter was in charge now.

“What do I need to know, Derek?! They killed our family. We should take the pretty ship they gave you and use it to extract some revenge.” The anger in her voice isn’t explosive, its dark and twisted and sinister, can his really be his sister?

“Cora, I’ve gone down the revenge path, I destroyed a few of their bases with the Alliance and going by the bounty they put on you you’ve gotten more than enough revenge.” He tries to be reasonable, logical, but even he knows that it’s a useless appeal. Cora was about to renew her rant when Lydia walks in ignoring the warring siblings.

“Get the fuck out of here princess.”  Lydia rolls her eyes and Cora begins to advance on her.

“Greenburg open the com.” She states calmly pointedly ignoring Cora.

“I’m going to-” Cora stops when the table within the room begins to descend into the floor and the lights darken. “The hell is going on?” Derek would like to know that as well. A hologram takes the place of where the table that is now even with the floor. Peter sits on a chair drinking a liquid from a glass. He looks to Cora taking in her appearance.

“I”m all for self-expression but are the straps really the right choice? I mean you might as well just wear pasties at this point. I can recommend you a few, some will even have shiny tassels.”

“And who the fuck is this dick?” Lydia giggles at Cora’s outburst earning her a look from Peter.

“What?” She asks. “Peter is a euphemism for dick.” Peter sighs.

“Peter?” Cora looks to Derek and then back at Peter. “Uncle Peter?”

“He’s the Illusive Man.” Derek clarifies.

“What?”

“A few years ago,” Peter begins a flippant air to his tone. “When Derek destroyed a few Cerberus bases, I used the chaos left in his wake to destroy the previous Illusive Man, and his daughter, the infiltrator who destroyed our colony. I realized that even with Gerard Argent dead a new head would grow upon this hydra.” Peter let a small laugh of his own and then spoke annoyed when he realized none of the others laughed with him. “A called it a hydra when it is named Cerberus? True humor is lost on the young. I took control and hear we are.” Cora looks to Peter’s eyes.

“I want access.” They share a look and Peter nods.

“Ms. Martin, give my niece access to our records.”

“But, Peter” She tries to protest but is quickly stopped by a look from Peter.

“Do not tell me what I can and cannot do with my organization Ms. Martin.” Lydia turns with a huff and leaves. Cora follows her out.

“What is it she’s looking for?” Derek asks his uncle hoping that Peter will answer in a plain sentence rather than a riddle.

“Something she is not ready to share with you yet.” The feed cuts off and the room alights once again. Derek turns to leave but the door opens and Stiles walks in.

“So...a sister.” Stiles smiles, but it’s tinged with worry. “Wait let me rephrase that, a bad-mouthed, delinquent, long lost sister with more than likely a dark past that you once thought was dead.” Derek just nods. “Do...do you need anything?” Derek looks at Stiles and he wants. He’s not sure what he wants but he wants something from the younger man, and that thought scares him and rouses him.

“I,” Derek begins, not sure what to say. He’s about to try again when he sees Cora leaning against the wall. She’s probably waiting for Lydia if the mixed look of anger and revulsion is anything to go by but Derek’s eyes unfortunately take in _all_ of Cora’s attire. Or lack of it to be more accurate. He just can’t, that is his little sister, the six year old that would ask him to play dolls and then pout when he said ‘no’ because boys don’t play interstellar tea party (but he would eventually give up and play with her, because that is what big brothers did). He was seeing more of his little sister than any older brother ever should. “Stiles I need my sister not to be wearing _that_.”

“I’ll see what I can do.” It’s a simple answer but at that moment it was music to Derek’s ears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have decided to try and write sex.....so will see how that goes. It won't be for a while however.


End file.
